Three Are Better Than One
by SpartaLazor
Summary: When Noble Six barely saves himself and Emile, they board the Pillar of Autumn, and embark on an adventure they had never dreamed of, from Installation 04 to Requiem. But then, Noble Six starts to be haunted by his past... Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: The Pillar Of Autumn

_**A/N: I'm going to try to cover the entire Halo story from CE to 4. This is my second fanfic, and i haven't even finished the other one yet. So... I hope you enjoy.**_

_CHAPTER ONE: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN_

"Six, get the package to the the pad, and get your ass off this planet. Don't worry, I got your back."

Six looked toward the MAC cannon that his last teammate was occupying. He nodded, even though he knew that Emile didn't see it. He attached his rocket lancher to the magnetic back of his blue armor.

"You do know that Captain Keyes isn't going to like the fact that you disobyed orders," said the AI in his helmet. Six had inserted it after the case he had been carrying the AI had broke when an Elite had kicked him to the ground. Hethen disposed of the empty case properly.

"So? If I hadn't, you and I would be dead, and humanity would be screwed," Six said, watching the Pelican as it left the _Autumn _and anded on the pad. The back door opened to reveal Keyes standing in the hatch.

"Noble Six, where's the package?'' Keyes said, noticing the missing case.

Six reached for the AI slot in the back of his helmet. "Wait," the AI said,"I'm picking up a Covie dropship seemingly on a course for the MAC Cannon."

Six grabbed his rocket launcher and loaded in two rockets. The Phantom then rose into view, shooting at the Pelican that was flying nearby. The Pelican's left engine exploded, sending causing it to flip upside and crash on the pad. Six dove out of the way as the Peilcan fell over the side of the cliff. Six took aim at the Phantom and fired off the two rockets. One hit the side while the other managed to get in the the inside. An Elite body and a few Grunt bodies flew out and toward the ground.

"Emile! You're gonna have company!" Six shouted as he reached for the last rocket he had.

"I see it," Emile said back.

The MAC Cannon slowly charged up as it turned to aim at the oncoming Phantom. There was a loud explosion,and the Phantom fell into pieces. Some of the pieces landed on the platform where the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon was.

"Emile, are you okay?" Six shouted into the comlink.

"Just cover in some Elite blood. I'll live."

"Noble Four, fire on that cruiser!'' Keyes ordered. Six looked up and saw the Covenant Cruiser. _Huh, when did that get there? _He thought.

"I have your window, sir." There was another loud explosion, and the under side of the Crusier was in flames. Six took the AI out, and handed it to Keyes.

Keyes took, not seeming to care that Six had used it. "So, where's the case?" he asked.

"Oh, um..." Six glanced at a dead Brute on the ground two yards away. There was an AI case sticking out of its neck.

Keyes smirked at the sight. "Well Six, the important thing is that you got the package here safely. Lets get out ofhere."

"Wait for Emile"

"I didn't plan on leaving him. Three Spartans are better than one," Keyes replied.

"Um, there's only two of us, sir."

"We have one on the Autumn. A Spartan II, to be exact."

"Sweet." Six had heard of Spartan II's. They were badass.

Six and Keyes boarded the Pelican, and Emile jumped out of the cannon, and off the platform. He landed hard on his feet and his shields took most of hte fall. He sprinted up to the Pelican.

"Nice work, Emile." said Six, holding his fist toward Emile. Emile shook his head and fist-bumped Six. "You said that last time you did this would be the last time." Emile said as the Pelican headed toward the Autumn.

"Well, I didn't expect us to live. But then we could fist-bump in the afterlife"

"You're wierd, Six"

"Captain! There's alot of Covie dropships out there. We might not make it to the Autumn." The pilot said from the front. Keyes elbowed his way to the front of the dropship, and took in almost fifty Phantoms coming at them. "Pillar of Autumn, this is Captain Keyes. Requesting fire on any of those damn Phantoms," Keyes hasitly said through the comm.

"Sorry Captain, but the guns are offline since we're preparing for slipspace," a voice replied over the comm.

"Does it matter if the guns are online?"

"Well, Corpral Collins said that we could use the power from the guns and transfer it to the engines, and would could make the ship faster."

"That only works in the movies!" Keyes rubbed his temples. "If I live through this, Collins is a deadman."

"Don't you mean dead-woman? We're talking about Michelle Coll-"

"Shut up, Vic!"

"Maybe if we left some one on the MAC cannon, we might not be in this situation," a young Marine remarked. Six shot him an evil look, then realized that it was uneffective with his visor.

The Phantoms opened fire, most of the plasma missing the Pelican, but the occasional hit it.

"Pelican Alpha three-fifteen to Autumn. ETA one-" The pilot was cut off as an explosion wracked the ship. "Pilot's dead!" The co-pilot yelled.

Six jumped into acton mode. He elbowed his way to the pilot's seat. The window had melted from a direct hit by a plasma bolt, and the pilot's top half was horribly charred. Six jerked the body out. He sat down and took the controls.

"You know how to fly this bird?" Keyes asked, keeping a tight grip on the AI chip.

"Not really, sir, but how hard can it be?"

Upon hearing those words, three Marines crossed themsevles while the other began praying to whatever god they believed in. Emile sat down in the seat closest to the hatch door.

The Pelican swerved right dodging a hail of plasma. They were hit from behind, so Six lowered the altitude slightly. Then they got hit from the left side. "This is getting old. Hang on to your teeth, poeple." The Pelican sped up to top speed, taking heavy fire as it made it into the hanger. The Marines let out a sigh of relief. Six didn't have to open the hatch, since it had a giant gaping hole from a Phantom. The Marines jumped out and headed to their stations. Or to their girlfriends to get laid.

The Phantoms had changed their target to the Helcyon Cruiser, but there was no way they could take it down before it took off.

"I'll need you on standby, Spartans," Keyes informed Six and Emile. Six nodded, and Keyes hustled off to the bridge. Six walked to the nearest window and observed Reach as they took off. The scorched plains. The burning citys. The Covie ships still glassing. Six knew that there were some humans alive down there.

"So," Emile said to Six. "Never going to see that planet again." His tone was grim.

"I get the feeling we'll see it again," Six answered.

_**A/N: That is the rewrite of chapter one. Added some action. Chapter two rewrite should be coming soon. Like I said, I will be taking OC's. The goal is to reach sixty reviews by chapter twenty. So help a fellow out and hit the button located right under the arrow!**_

**l**

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**V**


	2. Chapter 2: The Ring

_CHAPTER TWO: THE RING_

"Cortana, all I need to know is, did we lose them?"

"I think we both know the answer to that"

"We made a blind jump. How did they...?

"...get here first? Covenant ships have always been faster. And since they've been tracking us all the way from Reach, no one would have missed that hole we tore in subspace."

Keyes stared at the screen in front of him. It was going to be a long day.

Five minutes later...

_ I don't get paid enough for this, _thought the Spartan. He'd only been out of cryosleep for less three minutes, and already he was in the middle of a firefight. He ran through halls and passages avoiding fire from the Covenant's plasma weapons.

He sprinted out in to the middle of the plasma shots and bullets, heading straight for the door across the corrider. He jumped over a fallen barricade. He took a plasma bolt to the shoulder. He landed in the room.

"Yo, Chief, the captian wants to see you on the bridge. It's this way," a marine said. Chief followed the marine to the bridge.

"Captain Keyes."

Keyes turned around. "Good to see you, Master Chief." They shook hands. Chief peered out of the window and saw a massive ring. Keyes said something, but he didn't hear it. The ring had been terraformed and Chief could see oceans and plains on the suface. It seemed majestic...

"Sleep well?" Cortana's voice snapped him back to reality, as her hologram appeared on the terminal next to the screen.

"No thanks to you driving, yes," he replied to the shipboard AI.

"So you did miss me?" Then the ship shook violently. They had been hit by fire from the Covie ships that were waiting for them.

"This is where you come in Chief. We need you to get Cortana to a safe location. There are two other Spartans on board to assist you.

_ Other Spartans? _"Sir, I work better alone." he told the captain.

"Maybe you do, but I have a little more faith if there were three," the captian said to the Spartan. "Besides, I'm ordering you to work with them." Behind his visor he rolled his eyes. Cortana looked around the room. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Yank me." Keyes typed a code into the terminal, and pulled Cortana's chip out and handed it ot Chief. He inserted it into the slot in the back of his helmet. "Hmm," Cortana started," Your architecture is similar to the Autumn's."

"Don't get any funny ideas."

**...**

Six was pinned down in the cafeteria.

"That's what you get when you ruin my lunch!" Six yelled as he emptied his M6D pistol into an Elite. The Elite's shield broke, and Six nailed him in the head. He smiled as the corpse fell to the floor in a pool of its own blood. That Elite wasn't getting back up.

Six looked around the room. Tons of dead Covenant, and one living Grunt. Six raised his pistol. "This'll be easy."

"Please no kill me! Me don't want to die! Me will tell you stuff!" the Grunt yelled, throwing its hands to cover its face. It dropped the Plasma Pistol it was holding.

_ Now this might get interesting. _"What kind of stuff?'' said Six lowering his pistol.

"What does you want to know?'' the Grunt said, seemingly relieved that he wasn't dead.

Six didn't actually know what he wanted to know. So he thought of something else.

"Give me your Plasma Pistol and any grenades."

The Grunt was happy to hand over the weapons.

"Thank you. Now walk out that door, I'll lock it behind you, and we'll never see each other again."

As he locked the door behind the Grunt, he didn't know how wrong he was.

"_Hey Six, where are you?" _Emile's voice came over the comlink.

"I'm in the cafeteria, on the third level," replied Six, stuffing the pouch on his Commando armor with ice-cold sodas.

_ "Hold your position, we'll be there in five."_ said Emile, and the he closed to com.

_ We'll? _"No problem." muttered Six, as he stuffed his other pouch on the side of his armor full of tin foil-wrapped ham and cheese sandwhiches. He took off his blue Mark V helmet and dug into the pizza he had just got out of the machine.

Pango could not believe his luck. He stood up to a Demon and lived. He had lost his weapon and grenades, but he is still alive, so that was good. He might even get a promotion. But, he was never that lucky. He got stuck operating the Grav Lift to the damaged Crusier, The _Truth and Reconciliation._

But more of that later.

"Noble Six?"

Six looked up. There was another Spartan in front of him. He had green armor, and a Mark V helmet like Six's. The first thing Chief noticed about Noble Six was that he was slightly smaller than himself. _He's a three..._

"Yeah?''

Emile came into the room. "All clear. Six, I see you met Master Chief. He's been assigned to protect that AI we delivered, and we are going to help him. Got it?

"Yep. Ethier of you want any pizza?"

"Uh...no," Emile said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Good, I wasn't going to give you any," said Six, as he put his helemt back on and grabbed his pistol.

Chief silently signed. _One decent Spartan, and one ass._

_ "At least he's not an ODST," _Cortana said.

They set off through the ship fought off the Covenant until they reached the escape pod bay.

"There's on last life boat. If you hurry, you can get on board," siad Cortana's voice which was starting to tick Six off. He never had an AI of his own.

A Marine dove for the open door of the life boat, but he fell short and hit the ground. "Oh God, Oh God!" he screamed. Chief picked him up by the back of his collar and tossed him into the pod. Six and Emile followed. There were no more seats for the Spartans, so they had to stand.

"The Autumn, she's been hit!" a Marine cried out.

"The Autumn is accelerating! Keyes is taking it in manually!" Cortana exclaimed as the ship flew by the pod.

"What is that thing, lieutenant?" one of the Marines asked, concrening the bigass ring in front of them.

"To hell if I know, but we're landing on it." This was followed by a few minutes of silence followed by the pilot's next update. "Entering the ring's atmoshpere in five."

Six was looking out of the back window as the ground came rushing up to meet them.

"Damn, blast wing failure!" the pilot said, with a lot of worry in her voice.

"This is going to hurt!" Six said as he braced himself for impact.

-_Well, that is chapter two. If you think anything needs to be improved, let me know. I want this to be a good story. _

_Please R&R!_


	3. Chapter 3: Rough Landings

_I skipped over most of the Pillar of Autumn part because it would just slow things down. _

_CHAPTER THREE: ROUGH LANDINGS_

"That really hurt," moaned Six. "I can't feel my arm."

"Umm... Six? What's on your armor?''

"What?'' Six looked at his armor. He reached for his pouch, and pulled out a smashed up Coke can.

"Really, Six? Really?''

"You know that I get thirsty very often." Six checked the other pouch strapped to his leg. "At least the sandwhiches are OK." He said, relieved.

Chief stuck his head in the crashed pod. "We need to move. Covie dropships are coming."

"Six can't really run for a long time," explained Emile,"There was an accident back on Reach."

"I took a bullet to the knee," clarified Six, "And Jun meant to shoot me! Without telling me why!"

"I think I understand why," said Chief. "If you can't run, then you can be bait while Emile and I get away."

"I can run, just less efficently. Does any one have a jet pack?''

"Just come on Six!"

The trio crossed a bridge that was a short distance from the pod. They managed to evade the Spirit, but they drew the attetion of the overhead Banshees.

"Hey Chief, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll splatter Six." Emile joked (He wasn't actually joking)

"We never get that lucky," said Chief as he emptied his Assault Rifle in to a Banshee. "Where is he anyway?"

"He's hiding behind that rock over there," answered Emile pointing to a boulder a few feet away. "Probably eating one of his sandwhiches." Emile aimed down the sights of his M6D Magnum and unloaded three shots into the Banshee's outer hull. The Banshee fired back, taking out half of Emile's shield.

The Banshee was flying low.

"FOR NARNIA!"

Emile and Chief looked for the source of the unexpected, and quite ackward, battle cry. And they saw Six jump off the rock that he was hiding behind. He grabbed on to the right wing of the Banshee, and stuck a Plasma Grenade on the front. He jumped off, hit the ground hard, and rolled down the hill. The Banshee exploded, raining down parts of Banshee and Elite armor on the Spartans.

"Did Six actually just do something right?" asked Emile as he watched Six get up and walk over to them.

"For Narnia?" questioned Chief.

"Haven't you ever seen those old earth movies? You know, the Chonicales of Narnia...oh, never mind."

"Where did you get that Plasma Grenade?"

"From a friend"

"Well, we need to move. Cortana said that there might be survivors." said Chief.

"You know, I could have told them my self." said Cortana, "I can transmit to all of you through Chief's comlink.

"That's handy,"said Emile. No one could have told if he was being sarcastic or not because, with a Spartan who rarely takes his helmet off, you can't tell his facial expressions.

_I know that the chapters are short, but that just means that there will be more chapters. Also, the title of chapter 2 had nothing to do with chapter 2. Please rate and review so I can improve this story. Thanks!_


	4. Chapter 4: Rescue Team

_Allright, Chapter 4 (i'm not much of a author's note person.) Also, I'll be skipping some non-important parts throughout the story._

_CHAPTER 4 : RESCUE TEAM-Part 1_

_"_Oh Hell no! Don't let Six drive the Warthog!" Emile shouted. They had just saved one lifepod's occupants. Cortana had gotten the Evac-Pelican to drop a Warthog, and Chief had told Six to drive. "He sucks at driving a Mongoose, and a Warthog would be worse than letting a monkey drive a Scorpion Tank."

"That's offensive! I can drive perfectly fine! And the last time you drove a Mongoose, you flung me in to a lightpole"

"That was a manuver that I executed perfectly."

Master Chief might have snickered, but no one could tell. "Fine, I'll drive, Six is on gun, Emile, you take passenger seat," he said, climbing into the driver seat. Six climbed into the gun turrent, and Emile swapped his M6D Magnum for his Assault Rifle.

Chief drove down a hill and in to a cave made of metal. "This cave isn't a natural formation," said Cortana.

" Nah dip, Sherlock," commented Six.

"Shut up," said an annoyed Cortana.

Chief swerved the Warthog and up a ramp. They did a jump over a gap, and Six fell off.

"Come on Six, what are you waiting for? Christmas?" said an annoyed Emile.

"Coming," said Six. Then he tripped.

"Oh my God," said an annoyed Chief.

Once Six had managed to get back in the Warthog, they came across the Covenant. Chief and Emile got out and used Warthog as cover.

"Now you see why I stuck Six on the gun. He gets shot more." said Chief.

"Nice move," said Emile as he popped a Grunt with his M6D Magnum.

Five minutes later, there were no living Covenant in that cave.

"I thought you said Six would get shot more," stated Emile as he pulled a purple crystal from a Needler out of his arm.

"Yeah, and yet he's perfectly unscathed," said Chief as he handed Emile the first-aid kit from the Warthog. They had sent Six to find the controls to the Energy Bridge that they need to cross.

"Hey guys! I found the conrtols!" yelled to the other two Spartans.

"Well then, activate the bridge!" Emile Shouted back.

"OK!"

The lights went out.

"SIX!" Emile and Chief yelled at the same time.

"Sorry!"

The lights came back on.

"Which button is it?" asked Six

"Just push a random one," resonded Chief.

"You didn't just say that to Six, right?" The doors shut.

"I'll do it" said Chief. Chief pushed two buttons. The doors opened and the bridge materialized.

"How did you know which buttons to push?" asked Emile.

"Cortana told me," answered Chief.

"Why didn't she tell Six?"

"Because I thought that it would be funny. Come on, tell me it was funny." said Cortana.

"Okay, it was funny," lied Chief.

They all got back into the Warthog and drove off to save some Marines.


	5. Chapter 5 : Rescue Team

_I've been meaning to update as soon as possible. But with all the Thanksgiving dinners I went to, and all the homework I've had, I rarely had some free time. After reading the reviews, I will act upon them as best as I can._

_CHAPTER FIVE: RESCUE TEAM-Part 2 _

The Warthog barreled out of the man-made cave. Chief was at the wheel, driving with some badass skill. Emile was in the passenger seat, Assault Rifle up to his shoulder. Six was on the turrent, hanging on for dear life.

"Can you slow down, like, please!" complaned Six as they went over another hill.

"We have people to save, and places to go," Chief responded.

Then, a Plasma Grenade flew out of nowhere and stuck to the Warthog's windshield. "Bail!" Shouted Emile as he jumped out of the vehicle. He landed hard, and rollled a few times before getting back up. Six and Chief jumped out, and the Warthog exploded, making it completely inoperable.

"Well, that just sucks," commented Emile, picking up his Assault Rifle.

"What hit us?"

"Some Elite trying to show off. Just take a look at how that ended." said Emile, pointing toward the wrecked Hog. There was a pair of Elite feet sticking out from under it.

"So, now what?" Asked Six.

"We go on foot."

Twenty minutes later, they picked up communications with the Pelican pilot. "I saw three groups of survivors. One on a hill, one next to a cliff, and one near a rockslide." Said Foehammer.

"Great. Not too specific. Should we split up?" asked Emile.

"And let Six go alone? Not a chance,"replied Chief. "Cortana, how far to the nearest lifepod?"

"About two-hundred yards northeast. Near a rockslide." answered the AI.

They stared sprinting toward thier target. Being Spartans and all, it wasn't very hard to run two-hundred yards.

After about a minute or two of sprinting, they were at thier target. Not bad for a Spartan, huh?

There was a lifepod crashed into the ground. (Where else would it crash?) There were several Marine bodies and equipment laying around the door. The trio went to investigate. Six spotted a long barreled gun laying on the ground.

"Sniper Rifle! Dibs!" He shouted as he picked it up.

"Damn, I wanted that," said Emile.

"Ya snooze, ya lose!"

A voice came from some the rocks nearby. "Yo homies! Some Spartans are here! We're, like, saved!"

"Covie dropships inbound!" Cortana informed the Spartans. "Get to higher ground."

They joined the marnies on the rocks. The enemy dropships came into view. "Get ready," Chief ordered. Emile put a new clip in to his M6D Magnum. Six went prone as he steadied his Sniper Rifle on a small rock. The ship landed, and the first Elite jumped out...there was a loud gunshot...the Elite took a bullet to the head and was dead before he hit the ground.

"Nice shot, Six," said Chief, realizing that this was the first cpmlement he had given to the former Noble Team member.

The rest of the Covenant squads were advancing toward them. They made it under the massive rock that the humans were using as a good vantage point.

"Oh, to Hell with it!" Chief jumped off the rock and directly into the Covenant troops. Several rounds from an Assault Rifle were fired, along with several Plasma Pistol, Needler, and Plasma Rifle shots. Six peered over the edge of the rock to see dead Jackals and dead Grunts, and an Elite with an Energy Sword through his neck. Ouch.

Two more squads of Covies landed. Most of them were picked off by Emile, who had taken the opportunity when Six had looked over the edge to steal the Sniper Rifle.

They rescued the other two groups of survivors, and boarded the Pelican heading toward a small UNSC camp.

_Sorry about the lame ending. I got really tired as I typed this up. My hands hurt. Like always, R&R so I can improve this story. Thanks...Damn I'm tired._


	6. Chapter 6 : Thanksgiving

_This will be a short chapter on Thanksgiving. Not too many story details, but I wanted to do a chapter for Thanksgiving._

_CHAPTER SIX : THANKS_

"Emile, can I please have my Sniper Rifle back?" They had landed at the UNSC camp a few hours ago. It was on a plateau, with enough room to have several Marine squads, and a few Scorpions as well.

"Hey, you left it ungaurded. You should really have taken care of it. An Elite might have stolen it."

"Chief had killed them all!"

"So, one could have been in Active Camo. What's going on here?" Emile asked, as they saw a group of Marines that were sitting around a rock. Chief was with them.

"Wat's up, dawg?" Six asked Chief as they approached the group.

"Today's Thanksgiving, homie!" responded a Marine, whose name tag read _Tallert. _"You know, the day we all give thanks for what we ae thankful for."

"Usually, there's a big feast," started a Marine named Phillips. "but we don't have very much."

"I have seven ham and cheese sandwhiches," said Six, as he took them out of his pouch and set them on the rock. "They're a little smushed, but they should still be good. Anyone got anything else?"

A Marine named Wiersbe reached into his field pack and pulled out a plastic container. "My daughter made me some cookies." He said as he set the containe on the rock.

"Anything else?" asked Chief. All the Marnies replied with a negitive.

"Well, sndwhiches and cookies. I'm used to turkey and gravy. I'll start wit the giving thanks, homies," said Tallert. "I'm thankful that I'm alive, and that most of my squadmates are alive. And that we can still celebrate despite we the fact that we are on a ring in outer space."

The other Marines went, and were mostly thankful for thier families and other stuff like that. Then it was Emile's turn.

"Um,...I'm thankful that Six left his Sniper unattended so I could steal it." Then it was Six's turn, after he punched Emile.

"I'm thankful that I got to kill one Elite with _my _Sniper rifle." Then it was Chief's turn.

"I'm thankful that I'm not involved with the Sniper Rifle war." Some Marines snickered.

"Who's gonna carve the... sandwhiches?"

Six pulled his knife from the sheath on his belt-thingy and volunteered. After they had eaten what little they had, Tallert went to check (raid) the Pelican's cooler for food.

"Hey homies! Guess what!" he said as he poked his head out of the hatch.

"A complete Thanksgiving Dinner for ten magically appeared." One of the homies said, sarcastically.

Tallert held up two twleve packs of beer.

The Spartans left the group at this point, to plan the rescue of Captian Keyes. It had been a Happy Thanksgiving.

_Well, there. A short chapter for Thanksgiving. Please R&R! Thanks._


	7. Chapter 7 : Midnight

_All right, chapter seven! My hands are still tired from chapter 5. Well, here I go..._

_CHAPTER SEVEN : MIDNIGHT _

"What is this? The Covie Deaf Squad? We land a Pelican nearby, they don't hear it. we shot two Elites, they don't here that," stated Emile. It was about a half hour to midnight. They had landed only fifteen minutes ago on the quest to save Keyes.

"Hey, I'm just glad to have my Sniper Rifle back," said Six as he put in a new clip. But Emile was right. The Covies hadn't heard any gunshots, or the Pelican. Strange.

_Meanwhile...in the Covenant Squad..._

_ Man, these new headsets rock! You can't hear anything outside them! Makes the perfect, uninterrupted music player! I'm glad my whole squad got a pair. Now they can't complain,_ Elite Major Getu thought. He saw a flash of metal in the bushes. _What is that...OH HELL! _Getu knew what it was. He took off his music headset and grabbed his Plasma Rifle. There was a loud gunshot, and a Jackal fell down, dead. Getu made a life-saving decision. He turned and ran.

"Nice shot on that Jackal, Six. Went right through his head." Said Emile, realizing that this was the first time he had complimented his teammate.

"Went through his head, bounced off a rock, and then right through his balls." Six said back.

_Okay, that was wierd..., _thought Emile. He raised his Sniper Rifle and shot an unsuspecting Elite Minor. He saw a Elite Major making a break for freedom. He fired off a shot, and missed. The bullet bounced of a rock, and hit a Plamsa Battery. No one could have missed the explosion. The Covies knew that they were there.

"Look who screwed up this time," said Six.

"You couldn't do any better," retorted Emile.

"Fine," Six put a Grunt in his scope, but it was hard to keep it lined up due to the fact that the methane sucker was running around in a quite panicked state. Six squeezed the trigger. The gunshot could now be heard by all Covenant in the area since they all had taken off thier noise-canceling headsets when the Plasma Battery used to power the antenna became fireworks. The bullet bounced off a rock (It seems that they do that all to often) and went right back to the source of the shot.

"DAMN IT!" Six shouted when his shields broke and he felt a extreme pain in his right wrist. His shield took most of the damage, but his wrist was bleeding.

"Told you," said Emile, not caring that Six had just shot himself.

Chief was finishing off the last of the Covenant. He shot down a Jackal with two expert shots. One to the wrist to stop it's movement, the other was right between the eyes. He returned to his comrades, and upon noticing Six holding a bloody wrist asked "He shot himself, didn't he?" Emile nodded.

Chief handed Six a Medical Pack. "A Major got away, probably to get reinforcements. We can take out most of them, as long as we don't shoot ourselves any more." He pointed to a narrow ledge along the edge of a massive cliff. "He went that way. Six, can you walk?"

"I got shot in the hand, so, no I can't walk!" he replied sacastically as he applied some biofoam to the wound. "OH HELL! THAT HURTS!" he screamed afterward.

"Good, lets move," said Chief.

Pango was standing at the gravity lift's control panel. He opened his personal computer after he pressed the button to sen a pair of Hunters in to the damaged ship. The computer was about the size of a human notecard and was about as thick as one. It had a holograph projector, because, seriously, who used screens anymore?

He pressed his thumb to the thmbprint scanner. It flashed green, and his desktop appeared in mid-air due to the holograph projector.

"Welcome Pang'nag." said a female voice in Gruntese. (Or what ever the hell it is called)

_Pang'nag. Me hate that name, _the Grunt thought. It was his birthname, but he hated it. It was too close to pa'ngang. He had everyone call him Pango. You would too, if you knew what _pa'gang _meant in Gruntese. (Or what ever the hell it is called)

An Elite Major ran on to the Gravity Lift platform. "Beam me up Spock," The Elite said with a probable smile. It's hard to tell when an Elite smiles.

Pango sighed as he hit the button. That was the eighth time someone had used that joke.

_e really should not have Elites see me collection of vintage human movies, _he thought.

"I knew there would be reinforcements," said Chief as they watched the three Jackals walk the narrow path. "We should take care of them quietly."

"Uh, queitly?" said Six from behind Chief. A small, sphereical gray object landed in the middle of the Jackal. The Frag Grenade exploded, killing the three Jackals instantly. Elites, Grunts, and Jackals who had been following behind the Jackals, out of sight, saw the Spartans and opened fire.

"Whadda ya know? Six is wounded and he _still _managed to screw something up," said Emile as he raised his Sniper Rifle. He fired two shots and brought down an Elite minor. A plasma bolt hit Chief as he threw a Frag, managing to get it behind the Elites. The blast broke the shields of the Elite captain and knocked a minor off the cliff. The Grunts were running like cowards.

The Captain was gunned down by Six with a shot to teh head wtih his M6D Magnum. His wrist was in too much pain to hold his rifle, so he had switched to his pistol.

They pushed up the path and into an area occupied by Covies, cleared them out, and they took another narrow path, which lead to another area filled with Covenant. Foehammer dropped of some marines to help the Spartans retrevie Keyes.

"Yo, homies! Looks like you and I ge to work overtime!" Said a familiar Marine voice.

"Just great..." said Emile.

"Where's the Gravity Lift?" Tallert asked.

"It's up ahead." said Chief. "Now here's the plan..."

Pango was still on his personal computer when the first shot rang out. He turned to see an Elite fall to the ground, blood spewing from it's head. Pango ran and hid behind a rock. He peered out to see the humans mop up the Gravity Lift Patrol. _This isn't good, _he thought.

_I know that it was a sucky ending, but I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo tired... Please R&R...Thanks..._


	8. Chapter 8 : Too Much Purple

_OK, I made it to chapter 8. I'm starting to get writers block, so this might be the last chapter for a few days. I have been way too busy with homework. If you want to make a request for this story, like having a Marine named after you or whatever, just PM me. I'll see what I can do._

_CHAPTER EIGHT : TOO MUCH PURPLE_

"Well, we're all clear," said Emile as he shot a Hunter in the back, making sure it was dead. They had taken out all of the Covie troops that had come out of the grav lift. There were Covie bodies laying all around. Emile stepped on to the platform, where the surviving two marines, Tallert and Wiersbe, were standing.

"Okay, how do we start this thing?" he asked.

"There should be a control panel right about here," Cortana said as she marked a location on the HUD.

Six walked over to the panel and pushed a button, or a hologram button, with his good hand. It flashed red. He tired again with the same results. "It's not working," he said.

Cortana thought for a moment. "Perhaps it's one of the newer models. It scans your hand when you push the button. It'll only work if you're a Covenant species."

"Great," Chief stated.

"So, how are we gonna get on?" asked Six.

"There are plenty of Covenant species laying around, with my bullets in them!" exclamied Emile, with a seemingly cheery tone.

"It won't work. It reads your vitals when you put your hand on it. Only living Covenant can access it," was Cortana's reply. "Chief, I'm going to switch you helmet to thermal mode. Look for heat sigs." Chief looked around the area before he saw a heat signature behind a rock.

"What's that?" he asked Cortana.

"Judging by size, shape, and the fact that is shaking with fear, a Grunt," was her reply.

"Six, we got a Grunt behind that rock. Bring him back, alive," ordered Chief, who had become the leader of their team by his own descision.

"Got it, _sir_," was the reply.

Six was surprised to find that the Grunt had set his Plasma Pistol and grenades on the ground in front of him.

"Please no kill me," was all the Grunt said in a panicked voice that was familiar to Six.

"You wouldn't be the same Grunt from the _Autumn_, would you?" Six asked, hopefully.

"Me was on starship. Me gave you weapons," said the Grunt, hoping that the demon would remember him, because he didn't want to die.

"Good," said Six as he raised his pistol with his good hand. "Why don't you go over there and send me and my friends into your ship?"

"Uh... Me can't do that..." Six clicked off the saftey. The Grunt, as predicted, panicked. "Me think me can do that."

The Grunt walked over to the panel and pushed the "Activate Gravity Lift 09" option on the screen. The Grav Lift began to power up.

Six and Chief joinec the marines and Emile on the platform. Six turned to the Marines. "Take the prisoner back to camp. He's a coward and we could get some pretty useful information out of him."

"Anything to get out of a siuicide mission in a Covenant Crusier, homie,'' Tallert said as he and Wiersbe got off the platform. "Good luck."

And with that, the trio began to rise toward the _Truth and Reconsiliation._

They were sent into a room with two doors on either side of it. There was as single Wraith parked in there.

"Warning," Cortana said, "No Covenant detected."

"That doesn't sound right," said Six as he put his M6D Magnum on to his magnetic hip.

Emile took a look around. "Too much purple," he said. "Makes them look like a group of girls than an alien race trying to wipe out humanity."

Chief noticed what appeared to be a strange patch of air that was shimmering. "Six, Emile, are etiher of you in Active Camo?" Chief asked.

"No. Why?"

Chief opened fire on the shimmery thing. The Elite deactived it's camo. It had gold and black armor with runes and symbols inscribed on it, that pointed to a high rank. It roared as the bullets hit it's shields, and the alien activated his Energy Sword and swung at Six, who was the closest to him. Six dropped to the ground, effecively dodging the sword.

Emile fired his Assault Rifle into the Elite's torso before the split-lip could step on Six. Six rolled to cover. He grabbed his pistol and fired three shots to the Elites head. Emile was behind the Wraith, reloading. Chief was firing from behnd some crates. This Elite's shields were pretty strong.

Six fired another three shots. These broke the Elite's sheilds. Finally. Chief managed to finish it off with the last twelve shots from his sixty round clip.

The three Spartans looked at the corpse. "What type was that?" asked Emile.

"That was an Elite High General. They are the third highest rank, behind Field Marshals and Arbiters," came Cortana's voice through the comlink. "There are only seven, make that six, in the whole Covenant. There are three Field Marshals and one , sometimes none Arbiter at a time."

The door to the right of them opened. They turned to see a group of Jackals and Elites walk through. The Elites let out roars of hate when they saw thier High General on the floor. They all activated their Energy Swords while the Jackals charged thier Plasma Pistols. The three other doors opened, and Grunts lead by Jackal Snipers came out of them. They were surrounded.

_This is going to hurt,_ thought Six.

_Well, that's chapter 8. This chapter just barely pass the 1,000 word mark. The weekend is coming up, so I hope to have more time to write. BTW, I need a cover picture for this story and would appreicate it if any talented artists could draw a good one. Send me a PM if you are interested. I'll send you the details. Well, R&R so I can improve this story. THANKS!_


	9. Chapter 9 : Demons

_I was reading my reviews, and the one thing that popped up the most was that I needed to have a more serious tone. Please note that I'm not the best author in the world, so it might take me some time to get the hang of it. I'm going to start to spend more time on each chapter, making it longer, and have it proofread. I think that some (most) of my chapters might have been disappointing due to the fact that I would try to update a chapter every day. I would rush things. Now I'm going to update at least three times a week, and I will be going over and fixing any mistakes in the first eight chapters. Without further ado, chapter nine!_

_CHAPTER NINE : DEMONS_

Six looked for a way out of this ambush. They were trapped in the center of the room. They formed a triangle so they faced every squad of Covie troops. He only had his Magnum with three clips left. His hand had recovered to where he could use a rifle without the injury being in complete pain. He glanced at Chief, who had his Assualt Rifle aimed at the nearest Elite. "Any ideas?" he asked Emile in a low voice.

"No, and I'm down to my last full clip," was the low-voiced responsed.

"Now you perish, Demons!" an Elite exclaimed as it jumped for the Spartans. Emile raised his Assualt Rifle and opened fire. The Elite's shields broke right as it reached Emile. It swung it's sword at Emile's, but Emile ducked. Six fired four shots at the Elite before it was brought down by the last eight shots from Emile's Assualt Rifle. Chief had his back to action, keeping his gun on the two squads of Grunts and Jackals.

The two remaining Elites looked horrified that their captain had been killed so fast. Then they looked at each other and nodded. Time for revenge. On rasied his fist ot signal to the Grunts. The Grunts began to fire. All three Spartans shields were taken down relativley fast due to the Grunts that had been charging their pistols. Emile threw his last frag and dove for cover behind a crate. The blast took out three Grunts and a Jackal. Chief was mopping up the last of the two squads that he was fighting. Six fired three shots and brought down two Grunts and took cover behind the front left wing of the Wraith. He heard a few Needler explosions, and saw Grunt blood and gore splatter against a wall.

"What took them so long to attack?" he asked over the comlink.

"Elites are a warrior speices. They tend to try to take out as many humans single-handedly as possible. The more kills they have, the higher rank they are," Cortana, the AI with seemingly infinite info, replied. "They were giving the squad leader first crack at three demons, as they call you."

"Perfect," said Six as he jumped from cover and fired his last five shots in the clip at the nearest Elite. He glanced at his personal shield's status bar on his screen. 12% just great. _I hope Emile and Chief are fine, _he thought as both Elites started running at him, Energy Swords ablaze. _Oh Hell!_

Emile was doing fine. Fine as in he had scavenged a Needler from a dead Grunt. He aimed at the few remaining Grunts on Six's side of the Grav Lift room. He squeezed down on the trigger and watched seven needles fly, slightly turning in the direction of the nearest enemy. The needles impacted on the Grunt's body, and one on the head. The Grunt ran in panic when it realized what was on it's face. Then the needles exploded, spreading Grunt blood and some body parts across the room. The Grunts were now firing plasma at what ever shot in thier direction. The Elites were just standing around, watching the display. Six said something over the com, but he didn't catch most of it because he had unleashed another wave of needles at Grunts. Two more Grunts blew, and the Elites were starting to show a bit of concern on their faces. There were five magnum shots in rapid succession, hitting an Elite and breaking it's shields. Both Elites turned toward the source of the shots and charged.

_ Six can't take both out with his pistol, _Emile realized. He dropped the Needler, as it only had three needles in it anyway, and ran toward the nearest Elite. He grabbed his knife out of it's shoulder sheath.

Chief fired out from behind his new cover; the front right wing of the Wraith. His barrage of bullets from his AR buffeted the poor Grunts killing three and wounding two. He heard a few Needler explosions in the background, followed by five magnum shots. Chief took his magnum off of his hip and fired another burst from the AR. He carefully aimed the magnum and fired at a Jackal Sniper who was hiding behind a Covie crate. The single shot hit the jackal in the left eye, passing through and hitting its brain. _Beautiful shot_. His rounds from the AR had killed the last Grunt. He turned to the other side of the hanger just in time to see Emile running at an Elite, his knife in hand.

Six ditched the empty mangum and grabbed his knife out of his belt shealth. He saw Emile climb up the back of the Elite that was following the first one. Emile jabbed his knife into one of it's two hearts, and then stabbed it into its head. The Elite in front of Six swung an uppercut with his sword, but Six dodged to ths side, and punched the Elite in the chest. It swung downward, Six dodged again, but part of his Grenadier shoulder armor was clipped. He jumped and brought his knife down at the Elite's head, but the Elite grabbed Six by the neck and held him up against a wall. Six stabbed his knife in the aliens hand, but the Elite held strong. It brought it's sword back, preparing to stab the Spartan, when the sound of magnum, assualt rifle, and plasma pistol fire was heard. The Elites shields broke, and a single magnum shot to the head brought down the alien. Purple blood splattered on his visor and he fell to the ground.

Emile pulled Six's knife out of the Elites body and handed it to him. "You got to get better with one of these," he said.

Six took the knife and wiped the blood on the side of the Wraith. "Hey, I tried. Thanks."

"No problem, we're always around to save your ass."

"Okay, how much ammo do we have?" Chief asked, checking his waepons. "I have two and a half clips for the AR, and only one clip for my magnum."

Six and Emile checked their guns. Six had only two clips left for his magnum, and Emile had none at all. He was holding a Plasma Pistol.

"Well then I guess we should take some Covie weapons." Emile picked up one of the dead Elite's Energy Sword. He activated the blade and swung it around experimantally. "Nice," he commented. Cheif picked up a Plasma Rifle from one of the Elites. Six picked up a Plasma Pistol and his Magnum from where he had dropped it.

"Cortana, where would the captain be held?" Chief asked.

"Probably in one of the ship's brigs. There are four on this ship. About two floors up."

"Six, cover the rear. I'll take point. Emile, just cut down any Covie bastard we meet." Chief caught a glimpse of Six picking up another Energy Sword from one of the other Elites. Chief went over to the High General's corpse and took his Energy Sword. "There, we're all armored up." The trio went through a passage way that one of the Covie squads had come through.

"You know why everything is so purple, Emile?" asked Cortana, the know-it-all.

"No, but I get the feeling that I'm about to find out."

"Elite's blood is purple. They use purple to honor their ancestors."

"Really?'' said Six, a hint of awe in his voice.

"To hell if I know. I was just making conversation. By the way, I hacked into the ship's mainframe. There should be a patrol on thier way to the hanger to check on thier buddies. They are right around the corner."

Almost five seconds later, the patrol came around the corner, with thier weapons ready. There were two Elites, three Jackals, and four Grunts. The Elites saw them first, and yelled something in Elitese to them. Six charged up the Plasma Pistol in his left hand and aimed his magnum in his right hand. Emile activated the blade on his sword, while Chief raised his AR. "Hi," Six said as the Plasma Pistols EMP discharged and hit the Elite, taking down its shields. Six shot the magnum, hitting the Elite in the head. It was dead before it hit the ground. The second Elite raised its Plasma Repeater and opened fire. Emile dashed forward while Chief fired twenty-two rounds into the Elites torso. Its shields were gone when Emile stabbed the plasma blade through its head. The Grunts and Jackals fired their Plasma Pistols at the demons.

"Frag out!" warned Six as he chucked his last grenade. The explosion killed the rest of the Covie bastards.

"Well, we're giong to do this more quietly," said Chief as he realized that the whole ship could have heard the grenade. And those who hadn't would be told by those who had.

"But being quiet is no fun," complained Six.

"Well, on the bright side, we're outta grenades," said Emile.

The Spartans walked into a room like the first, except that they were on a walk way that was above the room. There were four Ghosts and another Wraith in this room. Oh, and about five Elites, twelve Jackals, and twenty Grunts.

"Actually," said Six as he threw a Plasma grenade and it stuck to an Elite minor. The Grunts around him scattered in fear, while the minor dove for cover. As if that would help. The grenade exploded, sending purple blood all across the room. The other Elites and Jackals unleashed as much plamsa as they could while the Spartans took cover behind some pillars that were supporting the walkway.

"I'm beginning to see what you mean about being quiet," said Six.

_this was another short chapter becuase I'm going on an all day trip tommorow, and I wanted to get a chapter posted before I left. I still need people willing to make a cover for my story, because I am too lazy to do it myself. This has been the longest chapter so far, and I hope that you will enjoy it. I'm trying to improve, so if it doesn't meet up to you expectations, just tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm taking time out of playing Halo 4 to write this, and I love Halo 4. Please R&R...there was something else I was going to say, but I forgot._


	10. Chapter 10 : Demons

_This is the other half of chapter 9. I just got done playing Halo 4 forge. Made a nice map on Erosion. Anyway, Chapter 10(or Chapter 9 part two)!_

_CHAPTER TEN : DEMONS - Part Two _

"Way to go, Six," said Emile. He poked out from behind the support column that he was using for cover, took two plasma bolts, and went back. A particle beam from a Beam Rifle went through the air that his head had been occupying two seconds ago.

"Well, at least I killed the thing," said Six, hoping for at least some pride from the kill.

"Yeah, and four more took its place," Chief snapped back. "Give me your sword."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Fine." Six took the Energy Sword off of his hip and tossed it to the Chief. Chief caught one handed, put his assault rifle on his back, and took out his sword. He activated both weapons, and jumped down into the hell of Covenant. He landed with Six's sword through a Grunt's head. He pulled it out and swung his sword, slicing a Jackal in half. Its top half flew away from his lower half. Ouch. Six and Emile stood on the walkway, gazing down at Chief.

"Damn," was Emile's comment.

"That takes some guts," was Six's.

Chief stabbed both swords into an oncoming Elite. He left one sword in the Sangheili's chest, and used that hand to grab his Assault Rifle. Chief unloaded a full clip into the Unggoy squads that were "advancing" on his position. They were running around with their long arms flailing. Behind him, an Elite Ultra was flanking him.

Emile saw the Elite. "Six, get him in your sights." Six obeyed, steadying his Magnum. Emile backed up, and took a running leap toward the Ultra. Chief now knew that it was there, and turned around to face it.

"Hey, split-chin," he said, as he squeezed the trigger on the AR. Bullets flew out of the barrel, impacting on the Elite and bringing most of its shields out. Emile landed next to the Sangheili, with his knife in hand. Chief was taking plasma shots from behind. He turned back to the Grunts. _Die you methane suckers, _he thought as he released another burst from the AR. Emile kicked the Ultra in the knee, or at least the joint that connected the thigh to the lower leg. The Elite fell to the ground, and it grabbed its Plasma Rifle as it went down. Emile was on it like, uh... a Spartan on a down Elite. He cut the alien's brown skinned throat with his knife.

Six was still standing on the walkway, using his magnum to pick off fleeing Unggoy. He set one in his scope and fired. _Perfect head shot, _he thought. He fired two shots at a Grunt Major, missing the head, but hitting the methane tank, rupturing it. The poor Unggoy took off like a rocket. It flew around the room, and most Grunts attention. This was their leader, flying around in the air. The Major hit a wall, leaving a small patch of blood where it had hit. The remaining Unggoy went hysterical. They ran off in all different directions, trying not to get a jet pack ride.

Six's magnum ran empty, and he put it on his hip. He stood watching as Emile jumped on a surprised Jackal's neck. It went down screaming in pain as its neck snapped. Emile picked up the Beam Rifle it was holding, and aimed it at the last standing Elite. It was a Minor that had taken cover shortly after it's squad mate went up in a Plasma explosion. Emile fired two shots in rapid succession, the first hit the Elite in the torso, the second missed his head by an inch. The Beam rifle overheated, venting out the plasma. It burnt Emile's hand.

"Damn!" He swore, shaking his hand to cool it off.

"Look who's hurt this time," said Six as he pulled his knife out of his belt sheath and dove for the Elite. He landed on the Sangheili's back and stabbed it in the head. He stabbed it in both hearts to make sure it was dead.

"Looks like we have to scavenge for weapons again," Chief said as he walked over to them.

Six took a look around the room, looking for any weapons. There were several corpses on the floor, blood running out of them.

"Too bad we can't take the Wraith," said Emile, putting the Beam Rifle on his back.

"Or can we...?"

"No we can't! It won't get through the doors. Six, think, would you?" Emile exclaimed.

The Spartans were toting new guns. Emile had a Needler and his Beam Rifle. Six had a Plasma Rifle, his empty Magnum, and his Energy Sword, which he had to pull out of a dead Elite. Chief had his Assault Rifle that had thirty-two shots out of sixty, and a Plasma Rifle.

"They blocked all info about this ship from anyone that doesn't have a passcode. They knew I was in the system," Cortana said, apologetically.

"So where does that leave us?" Chief asked his AI.

"I wasn't quite able to find the brig before I was locked out of the system. I could hack back into it, but that could take hours. The most I could find out was that there was a prison break from one of the prisons. The Marines fought their way to the room directly in front of you." Cortana said as the trio came across a door. It opened when they got close enough, thanks to moition sensing technology.

"That is one big-ass room," Emile commented, as they took in the sight.

The room was three stories high, with walkways that covered three out of four walls of the room, one for each floor. The fourth wall had two hangar doors that were separated in the middle. There was a walkway that ran in between the two hargar doors. That was presumably where the controls were.

"Oh yippee. Another hanger," complained Six.

Elite Major Getu was standing on the bridge of the _Truth and Reconciliation. _"Ship Master, I have no doubt that they are after their leader," he said, trying not to make eye contact with Ship Master Taal. Taal was about five inches taller than any of his Sangheili brothers on the ship. He had a higher kill count, too. He was ruthless, once he had killed a Unggoy Minor just for eating human food during their invasion of a planet that humans called 'Reach.'

"If what you say is true, then I shall be the one to slay them!" Taal exclaimed, which brought cheers from the other Sangheili. "Go, Getu. Gather your team and meet me in the cells." The Ship Master activated his Energy Sword's blade, raised it into the air, and left with the parting words, "Today, we will see vengance for our fallen brothers!"

Getu left the bridge to find his team. _Oh, yeah. I abandoned them and they got slaughtered by the demons. I'll ask Loke if he can help. _After he had gathered his friend's assistance, they went to meet Taal in the prison room. When they entered, Taal greeted Getu personally.

"You have brought Major Loke and his team. Where is yours?" The Shipmaster said in a slightly angered tone.

Getu told Taal the same lie that he told Loke. "They were in the Gravity Lift room when the Demons came. They had no chance."

Taal lightened up a bit, for the first time."Then I will let you have your revenge. You can take on one Demon when they arrive."

_Uh oh... _That was not what Getu wanted at all. He wanted to live and forget about these Demons. They could blow up a hundred ships if they wanted to and he wouldn't care. Unless he was on one of them.

"Glorious Shipmaster, you can engage all of them. I do not wish to take away some of the renown you will get for slaying these Demons."

"Nonsense! You will have you revenge!" Taal roared, anger slightly returing to him.

_Great, _Getu thought as he peered into a cell with two humans in it. One of them gave Getu a hand guesture that involved making a fist but leaving the second finger to the left, thumb excluded, extended. The other soon did the same, but with both hands.

_Human hands are strange, _he thought, and then realized what the mind could think when stressed.

_My hands hurt from typing. Anyway, that thing about me needing a cover for the story, I'm working on one. Another thing, if you're going to point out a mistake, kindly point out that mistake so I don't have to search for it. I'm lazy, I admit it. Well, R&R! Thanks!_


	11. Chapter 11 : Wounded Icon

_This should be the last chapter from the Truth and Reconciliation. YAY! It has taken me a while, I haven't had very much time to work on this, and I am proud to present- Chapter 11! _

_CHAPTER 11 : WOUNDED ICON_

"Okay, here's the plan. Six, you're goning to get to that crate over there and use it for cover. Chief and I will get to those crates. Got it?" Emile was devising their plan of attack.

"Or, why don't we go Spartan on their asses?" asked Chief.

"Why don't you tell us what that means," said Six, as he looked at his Plasma Rifle, trying to figure out how to reload it.

Chief grabbed his AR off of his back, and check the ammo. About half a clip. "It means we go in guns blazing." He put his gun up to his shoulder, keeping the barrel in front of him. "Okay, move!''

Six and Emile dashed out of their cover, a barricade that was next to the door, weapons at the ready. Six had his Plasma Rifle in one hand, and his Energy Sword in the other. He shot a Grunt in the face, and winced when he saw that the plasma had melted the poor creature's head right to the skull. He sliced another Grunt with the sword, and watched as its left arm fell disconnect from its body and fall to the ground with an ugly flop. He put his sword back on his hip, picked up a Plasma Grenade, and chunked it at a group of Grunts.

Emile shot eight needles at the nearest Jackal. The Jackal fired its Carbine, taking out most of Emile's shields. But it was too late, as the needles had already stuck into its body. two in the upper right chest, three in the neck, and three in the chest. The pink crystals exploded, tearing the Jackal's right arm off, blowing its head off, and blowing a hole in its chest. That was quite a painful way to go. He emptied the rest of the deadly pink needles into the Grunts that were either firing out in the open, or running around trying to survive. There were three explosions as three Grunts' blood and internal material stained the floor. Emile took out his Beam Rifle and put a shot into the nearest Elite, who was trigger-happy with his Plasma Repeater. The plasma left melted holes in the walls around Emile, and occasionally hit him. Or a Grunt if it ran through the line of fire. The particle beam tore through the Sangheili's shields, and a second shot brought him down. And overheated the gun. "Damn it," he said as he ditched the gun and grabbed the Carbine from the left hand of the Jackal that had no right arm. Or body. He began to pick off the Unggoy.

Chief fired his Assault Rifle in short bursts to save ammo. He targeted only Grunts, and the occasional Jackal Sniper. The screen on the AR now indicated that he had only three shots left. He managed to get two of those into a Grunt's head while the other missed. Man, Grunts got the bad end of the deal here. He grabbed his Energy Sword and charged at an Elite Minor that was firing away with a Concussion Rifle, making small explosions all over the place. Chief was unsure how a Minor got a gun that only higher ranking Elites usually had, but he didn't care. The Elite fired at him, most shots missed. One hit him, knocking him back a few feet. His shields took the damage, but he could still feel the slight pain that only comes after a hit from a blob of plasma. The Elite was reloading as Chief got up and tried again. he stabbed it in the chest, and kicked it in the knee-joint thing. It fell, completely dead. Chief was beginning to wonder why he kicked it as he picked up the Concussion Rifle from the Sangheili's hand. He took all of the remaining ammo from the Elite's corpse and put in a new battery, and he was off to assist his team.

"You know, I think the going in silently and lethal would have been better. Now all this shooting is attracting attention," Cortana said to Chief as he shot three plasma bursts from the Conussion Rifle.

"Yeah, but Six always screws something up," Chief responded as one of the bursts hit a Grunt, blowing half of its head off and making the rest a bloody mess.

Six fired away with his Plasma Rifle, hitting two Grunts, making their bodies smoke while the plasma melted the skin. An Elite ran at him with a Energy Sword held high. Six raised his Plasma Rifle at it, but it brought its sword down, cutting the weapon in half. Six dropped the destroyed weapon and ducked as the Elite's sword slashed through the air where his head had been.

_That was close, _he thought. He raised his foot and kicked the Sangheili in the chest. It withdrew a few feet, giving Six enought time to get out his own sword. He and the Elite started to walk around in a circle, swords raised and ready to strike. Six swung first. The Sangheili brought his sword up and blocked the attack. Six tried to kick the Elite again, but dropped his sword as the Sangheili caught Six's foot in his hand and raised his sword to strike.

_This is the end, _he thought, _I hope I can see Jorge again. _Noble Five was like an older brother to Six before he had scraficed himself to save Reach. Or he thought he had saved Reach.

The Elite's was hit by a Concussion Rifle shot and dropped Six. He rolled away, and the Elite took cover, Six went behind a barricade, while the Elite had chosen a crate. Six peeked over the top edge of the baricade in time to see Emile stab his knife through the Elite's neck.

"That's the last of them," Chief said as he put a new battery into his Concusion Rifle. Six was staring at the multilated corpses that were laying against a wall, covered in blood and a few were missing limbs. They weren't Covenant bodies.

"That must be the Marines who tried to escape," said Cortana, who was taking a body count. "There are fifteen. The Covenant BattleNet said there was sixteen. One of them either didn't make it this far, or is still alive somewhere. The second is highly unlikely."

Chief picked up the Marine's Assault Rifle, glad to have a lead shooter in his hands. Six looked among the bodies, horrified at the sight. There were young recruits and seasoned Majors. Six turned from the sight of a female recruit, her face was totally destroyed by plasma. She couldn't have been more than nineteen.

"Covie bastards," he muttered as he took a Magnum and five spare clips from a dead Major, obviously killed by a Needler, as he was missing most of his chest. Six also took a Sniper Rifle and more Magnum clips. He couldn't bear the sight of the Marine that had been decapitated.

If Emile was feeling any emotion, he wasn't showing it. He picked up two frags and an Assault Rifle from the corpses.

"All right, let's go." He said it in a tone that could've been describe as slightly disturbed.

"Which way is it?" Six asked Cortana, through the comlink.

"There is a door on the other side if the hanger," replied Cortana. A marker came up on the HUD. "I wasn't able to locate the cells, but this way is probably the best bet."

There was a door on the far side, but it wasn't marked. There were too many crates in this room, and there was a lone Wraith right in the center. Chief, Six, and Emile made their way around the bodies, Covie or otherwise, to the door. It was, of course, locked during the almost successful breakout.

"Cortana, can you hack it?"

"Of course. They don't call me a smart AI for nothing. But I'll have to be put into the terminal next to it." Chief hesistated to put her in, but he managed to do it. "Don't worry, this will only take a minute."

Then, the door on the far side of the hanger opened, and what comes ou? Hunters.

They came out with their shields and gaint plasma cannons up and ready. Chief instantly fired on them from in front of the terminal, to protect it.

_Chief is certantly protective of his AI. _Six thought as he began to fire his magnum. The bullets were doing absolutly nothing to the Hunters. That's what happens when you shoot a Mgnum at something with armor made out of whatever is used to make Covie Cruisers.

"How much longer, Cortana?" Six asked as he dodged a fuel rod shot.

"About three minutes!'' Cortana yelled back.

A Hunter fired its Fuel Rod cannon at Chief, who was still in front of the terminal. Chief dropped his Assault Rifle and grabbed a crate, and held it in front of him, as a shield. The fuel rod impacted on the crate, knocking Chief over the terminal. Neither Cortana nor Chief had been major wounded, but the crate was blown in two.

_Where is Emile? _Six wondered as he put a new clip into his Magnum.

Suddenly, the Wraith that had been sitting in the middle of the room came to life and spun around to face the Hunter. Emile's voice came over the comm. "Fire in the hole!" The Wraith's plasma mortar fired a shot, and the plasmar mortar landed on one of the Hunters. It didn't have a chance. The other Hunter fired in response, hitting the Wraith head on. It took a chunk out of the front armor, but it didn't penetrate the driver seat.

Emile fired another shot, which landed next to the last Hunter, knocking it about two feet in the air, which was good, for Hunter. The record was three feet by a C4 explosive that Six had used on Reach. Six threw a Plasma grenade from the body of an Elite. It stuck to the Hunter and detonated. That finished off the Hunter.

Emile jumped out of the Wraith to join his comrades. "The door is open," Cortana said. Sure enough, the door opened when they got close enough to it. Chief put Cortana back in his helmet, and they continued onward.

Twenty minutes later...

"Are we there yet?" complained Six.

"Does it look like we're there?" said an annoyed Master Chief, which was pretty dangerous to have around.

"Uh..no,"

"Then we're not there!" Emile yelled at Six, which was also pretty scary. They turned a corner and came across a massive intersection of corridors.

"That's a lotta damn doors," said Emile. There were at least twenty of them.

"We're gonna split up and check each one of them." Chief said, still the de facto ruler of the team. Thry broke off and began to open each door. The fist fifteen, nothing. Then, Six opened yet another door, wasn't hard, all you had to do was stand in front of it. The door opened. Six immediantly jumped back and the door closed.

"I think I found it," he said with a shaky voice.

"What makes you think so?" asked Emile as he opened a door. Covie broom closet.

"Well..., six Elites might be a good clue."

Chief walked over to the door, and it opened. Inside were six Sangheilis. Three Minors, two Majors, and one in white armor that seemed unfamiliar to him. He entered, Assault Rifle raised and ready. Six followed cautiously wit his Sniper Rifle rasied. Emile entered with his Assault Rifle aimed at the ground.

The Elite in white armor signaled to a Major that was hanging back. The Major activated his Energy Sword and stepped closer to the Spartans. Six took aim and fired his Sniper, the bullet hit an Elite Minor right in the head, blowing it to pieces. The Elite Major winced. The white Elite jumped at them with a roar and activated an Energy Sword. Emile and Chief fired at the Elite. The Elite's shields were pretty tough. It swung out at Emile, but he jumped over the low swing and punched the Sangheili's face. The EIite Major jumped over the Spartans and ran out the door.

_Coward! _thought Six as he tried to put it in his sights. He took some fire from behind and saw the other Major and the remaining Minors firing their Plasma Repeaters at him. Six shot another in the head, and the Major dove for cover, while the last Minor did a suicide charge at Six, his own Plamsa Repeater and one from his dead comrades Plamsa Repeater blazing.

Six reloaded as fast as he could, and fired a round into the Elite, braking its shields. The next shot hit it right in the joint that connected its body to its right arm, disconnecting it. Six winced at that. The last Major jumped at Six from nowhere, knocked the rifle from his hands, and kicked Six down. "Opmmff" was all Six could say. The Major was on him like a Sangheili on a down Spartan. Six grabbed his knife and stabbed it in the neck as it landed on him. He pushed the Elite off of him and stood up to feel a sharp pain in his chest.

"Oh hell," he said when he saw the Elites arm raised at his chest. With a Plasma Dagger stabbed into him. He fell back down.

Emile was knocked to the ground. He saw the white Elite look at his fallen comrades, then, realizing that one was missing, threw a Plasma Grenade, and run out of the room. Emile rolled to the side, avoiding the deadly blue ball. Chief was deactivating the cell shield doors. Six was on the ground, clutching his chest. _Damn it! _He ran over to Six and crouched next to him, asscessing the wound. The shield doors deactivated, and a Marine medic ran over.

"Did you see what happened?" Emile asked the medic.

"Got stabbed by a Plasma Dagger. Some biofoam and a bandage should hold him together until we get to a better place with better medical supplies. How do you get the chest piece off?"

Emile reached up to the point where Six's chest armor connected to the backpiece. He undid a small latch on each side and lifted the chest piece off. The medic rubbed biofoam on the five-inch deep stab wound. Six writhered in pain, but calmed himself down. Captain Keyes was standing next to them. The other Marines looked horrified. This was a _Spartan._ They don't die, they're just missing in action.

The medic wrapped a bandage around the wound, and Emile helped Six to his feet. "Can you walk?" he asked Six. Six took an experimental few steps, he could walk, but he would need some help. Emile helped Six as Chief lead the Marines and the Captain as they retraced their steps. They made it back to the hanger, on the top floor. There was a Spirt docked just to the side of the platform.

"There's a Dropship we can use to escape. Just deactivate the docking clamps," said Cortana.

Chief deactivated the docking clamps. The dropship floated to the platform and turned to the side. The bay doors opened and the Marines took their seats Emile helped Six limp over to it. He helped Six into his seat and took the next to last seat next to his team mate. Chief sat next to Emile. he looked at the sullen faces of the Marines. They had just seen one of their heroic icons almost killed by an Elite. Keyes took the pilot's seat.

"Give me a minute to get control of it." said Cortana.

"No," the Captain started, "I'll fly her out." The ship began to move out of the hanger.

"Look out! Hunters!" Two Hunters ran out on to the top platform and took aim at the Spirit. Keyes manuvered the ship to face the Hunters, and flew torwards them, smashing eash one with one of the two side bays. A few Marines gave a half-hearted cheer, and the Spirit flew out into the night.

_I AM FINALLY DONE WITH THE TRUTH AND RECONCILATION CHAPTERS! I would like to thank all my readers for waiting patiently for this chapter. It took me three days to write, and a day to proofread. I still might have missed some. I am not perfect. If you see any mistakes, please let me know. BTW, Chapter 1-8 might get rewritten soon. Also, this chapter made the story have over 10,000 words. It's a start. The next chapter will hopefully be posted within five days. I hope you all enjoy, and R&R! THX!_


	12. Chapter 12 : Don't Lose Hope

_I simply would like to say that I haven't read ant of the books, so most of my info comes from the games and some research. So if I have anything wrong, that's pretty much why. Another thing, questions like how did they even know what Thanksgiving was and how the Grunt could speak in human laguages will be answered in this chapter or the next chapter. I have thought this out and I have a plan for it. Trust me. I just take a while. _

_CHAPTER 12 : DON'T LOSE HOPE_

It was dawn when the Spirit arrived at the plateau. The Marines saw it, and hadn't been updated yet.

"All right, men. Covies incoming. Lock and load," a Marine Sergeant ordered as he pulled back the slide on his Assualt Rifle. The sound of gun safeties clicking off was heard around the base.

"Sir, I'm picking up a transmission from the dropship." The Marine Sergeant walked over to the radio operator with his gun aimed at the ground. "It's from the Captain!"

Keyes' voice came out through the radio, causing some Marines to high-five. "I repeat, we are inbound to your position in a stolen Covenant dropship. Have all medics on standby. Over."

"We hear ya, Captain," the operator replied. He motioned to the medics. "Get ready, we got wounded comin' in." The medics began to check everything they had on them. Biofoam, bandages, painkillers. Once they were sure that they had what they needed, they set up a small surgery in the back of a Pelican. Only a few stopped to glance at the three figures that were standing off to the side.

"You know, I think we're starting to stand out a little bit," Tallert said, as he looked at their captive. The Grunt was playing in the sand, something that would have gotten a human soldier fired. Weirsbe was leaning back on a boulder, his Assualt Rifle leaning aganist it. "You don't say," he muttered as he closed his eyes.

The Spirit landed on the plateau, the troop bays were about five feet off the ground. The doors opened, and Marines jumped out, some helping the wound out. The medics rushed off to earn their paycheck. Then Keyes jumped out. The Marines that had been on the plateau began clapping, cheering, and patting their returning friends on the back.

"Medic!"

The celebration ended. All eyes had been turned to the source of the voice. The source was a Spartan in gray armor, with an intimidating skull-like shape carved on his helmet. The Master Chief was with him, and they were supporting the blue Spartan. There was blood leaking out of a wound that was two inches from his heart. Two medics, one dude, one dudette, ran over to help.

"What the hell happened?" The medics asked, almost at the same time. Chief and Emile carefully placed the now unconscience Six onto a flat rock. They started to remove Six's armor. All the Marines stood by watching, with a grim look on their faces.

"Plasma dagger," Chief replied in a monotonous tone. He undid the latches that held Six's Grenadier shoulder armor on. Six was now out of all his armor except his helmet. Emile lifted the helmet off of Six's face, leaving him in the black undersuit of the armor. The Marines standing around the scene gazed upon the Spartan's facial features.

"Damn. I always thought that they were machines." That was how they all felt. They had seen Spartans in action, but they had never seen an injured one, let alone the face of one.

The female medic inspected the wound. "Doesn't look good," she muttered. "Dagger pretty much burned the flesh around the wound, and it went in at an angle and punctured a lung. He also lost alot of blood." She had one of the most glum looks on her face. "We'll have to operate on him. And clone him a new lung, the other is toast. Literatlly."

"Do you have what's nessesary to operate?" Chief asked. The male medic shrugged and pointed at the open hatch of a Pelican. There were some supplies and a portable oragn cloner. It took them a while, but it got the job done. "That's the best we got. Not much, but it'll keep the Marines from staring." Chief lifted Six by the shoulders while Emile carried Six's feet. They gently set him down in the back of the dropship. The medics jumped in afterward, shooing the Spartans out. The door shut behind them.

Keyes decided to address the group. "Whether he lives or doesn't, just don't lose hope. We may be stuck on a ring in outer space, surrounded by Covenant, but we have a chance." He paused before he continued, "We got some information from that Covie ship, and there is hope to make it home. So don't lose hope." It wasn't the best speech in the world, but that was all he could think of.

Emile went off alone and sat at the edge of the plateau, staring off into space.

"Hey, you okay?" The voice came over his comm. An icon on his HUD indicated that it was a private channel.

"I'm fine, Cortana. Don't you have more important AI-ish things to do?"

"Not really. And you seemed disturbed, so I thought I would ask."

Emile never really showed emotion at all, but something happened here. "Six was the asshole of Noble team. I mean that in a good way. He was always cracking jokes no matter how bad the situation was. He never was good at anything other than fighting. And he had a strange addiction to food. No matter where he was, there was bound to be some food on him."

Cortana was surprised. She had never heard the Spartan say that much at one time. "There were some times when you were rather rude to him. And he seemed more of a 'dumbass' earier." Cortana tried out the word. She never really sweared, but there were those few occasions.

"Six was under a lot of stress. He never showed it. He saw Jorge die, he saw Kat die, he saw Carter die. But he kept on going as if nothing happened. He saw over eighty civilians die in the most horrible ways. Needlers, Energy Swords, Gravity Hammers, Plasma Grenades, Ghosts splattering them. Six had seen it all, and he was able to stay sane." Emile laughed at a memory. "He was a dumbass, but he managed to hold himself together. Dammit! It sounds like I'm givin' a euolgy or something."

"Don't worry, he'll make it," Cortana said in a reassuring voice. "It was nice to talk to you, Serria-A239."

The Spartan sighed. "Please, you can call me Emile. If you perfer, that is. You don't ha-"

"It was nice to talk to you, Emile," Cortana interrupted.

"We're getting nowhere with this," Tallert said as he squatted down, his elbows resting on his thighs and a datapad in one hand. He and Wiersbe were trying to interrogate the prisoner. All they had gotten out of him was that the Grunt homeworld was Balaho. No coordinace, no map drawn in sand, nothing. Wiersbe was still leaning against the rock. He had taken his helmet off and was rubbing his temples. The stress was overcoming. Tallert stood back up and looked the Unggoy in the eyes. "Forget Balaho, where did you learn to speak English?"

Pango thought about it. It seemed harmless enough. He was glad that they had gotten off the topic of his homeworld. So he answered. "Elite teached me and team. Me don't know why."

Tallert typed in the information on the datapad. "What is you're name?" he asked when he finished.

"Pang'nag," the prisoner answered. "But call me Pango." Tallert typed that into his datapad.

"Okay, I think that should do it for now." He walked off to report to Keyes.

Keyes was in a Pelican, and he had shut the hatch door for privacy. Tallert knocked on the hatch, and it lowered. He entered in and presented the datapad to the Captain. "This was what we got from the prisoner, sir,'' he saluted as he left. He jumped out of the hatch and it closed behind him. He stifled a yawn and checked his watch.

_1:58 am. Perfect. _His guard shift ended at two. He walked back over to the makeshift prison, which was just some sandbags piled in a square up to about waist hieght. Picking up his rifle, he glanced at the surgery Pelican. _I hope that Spartan's gonna make it. _He glanced at the armor, which had been covered in extra blankets. Too depressing to look at. He grabbed a UNSC issue sleeping bag with the logo in the corner, and began to remove his combat armor. Tallert sat on a rock and began to remove his combat boots. Then, he curled up in his sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep. His last thought was: _I thought that Spartans never die...this is pretty damn close..._

Chief was staring out in to the night, with his SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle. Now that was a mouthful. He had been keeping watch from a makeshift sniper nest since Six had gone into surgery about an hour ago. He hadn't known Six for very long, and he prefered to work alone than with Spartan III's, because he was used to Spartan II's. Kelly-087, and Fred-104 were among the people he wanted covering his ass. Cortana tried to make small talk.

"Pretty long name for a gun," she commented when she accessed the UNSC databanks and read the official file on the weapon.

"Yeah."

There was a pause. "Chief, he's gonna be okay." She tried to sound convincing.

"If it had been Spartan II's, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Listen to me." Cortana was the only one that actually talked back to Chief. "You have to get over the fact that they aren't the same type of Spartan you are. They're weaker, but they can still fight like hell."

No answer.

"Serria-B312 is also rated hyper-lethal. Just like you."

No answer.

"Chief, are you ingnoring me?"

No answer.

Cortana checked his vitals. The heart rate had slowed down, and brain activity was spiking now and then. _He's asleep. _Cortana realized._ Must be hard to do when you have a talkative AI in your helmet._ No matter how badass Spartans were, they still needed sleep. _Sweet dreams, John. _

Morning came a few hours later. Keyes looked out at the makeshift base from the troop hatch of the Pelican. It looked like a warzone. Marines laid out dead all over the place. Except that they were asleep, not dead. He noticed the two medics that had operated on Six. There were sleeping on the ground, wearing bloody gloves. He went over to the male medic and shook him slightly with his boot. The medic cracked his bloodshot eyes, looking at the Captain. "How is he?" Keyes asked, rubbing his tired eyes. He hadn't got much sleep either.

"Captain," the medic said warily, "he's going to make it."

Keyes was relieved. He extended his hand to the medic. "Why don't you and your friend go catch up on your sleep in the back of a Pelican so you can have some privacy? You earned it." _Waaiit... _"I mean you each get you own Pelican, you don't share."

The medic's sleepy face made a weak smile. "Thanks sir." He shook the female medic. "What... the hell do you want, Vince?" She mumbled as she woke up.

"The Captain says we can have our own sleeping quarters, Sarah." He helped her up and pointed to the back hatches of two nearby Pelicans. Keyes himself brought sleeping bags over to them. Keyes turned as the hatches closed. Once they were fully closed, he heard two thumps that only a dead body could make as it hit the floor. Or an asleep body. He walked over to the surgey, and peeked into the hatch's window. Inside was Six, covered in a blanket, or three actually, because he was a Spartan. He had a breathing mask on, and was fully asleep.

_Thank God, _he thought as he grabbed a Magnum off a nearby rock. He aimed it in the air, looked at all the Marnies that were peacefully sleeping, and fired.

_This was a non-action chapter, mainly because I wanted to have the relationship between characters strengthened, well, just Cortana and Emile. Originally, there was a scene where Chief is talking with Keyes, and Keyes was playing a video game. You can imagine why I took it out. Too unrealistic. But it might work out better in the future though..._

_I would like to thank those who review for their opionion, and that I'm doing my best to make this story work. And finally, next chapter is going to have some new arrivals... Go ahead and take a guess who they will be. No one in particular, but more of a squad of troops._

_R&R's are always accepted! Thanks!_


	13. Chapter 13 : Planning

_Time for the author's note thing that everyone probably skips over. I just realized that chapter 12 was posted on 12/12/12. Just an FYI, I try to get accurate information, but not having read the books, you might kinda understand if I mess up. Without further ado, Chapter 13!_

_CHAPTER THIRTEEN : PLANNING_

_What the hell?! _Tallert jerked upright, awakened by a gunshot and searching for his Assault Rifle. It was next to his armor, which he had dumped in a pile at the foot of his sleeping bag. He crawled over to it fumbled a clip into it, and held it up, ready to fire. Most other Marines had done the same, and had their rifles aimd around, looking for the source of the shot. Then, they noticed Captain Keyes standing a few meters away, Magnum aimed toward the sky, smoke coming from the barrel.

"What the hell, sir? You scared the shit out of us," one Marine said, with his MA5B aimed at the ground.

Keyes looked out into the Marines and lowered the pistol. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the Spartan will live to fight another day." Some Marines cheered, others high-fived. A small few took some money out of their pockets and handed it to their friend. But they did it with relief on their faces. "The bad news is that with the info we got from the Covie ship, we have two separate operations that will be launched today. Most of us will be fighting alien bastards soon." This got groans from most of the Marines. They had gotten up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag. "Armor up, get your weapons, and be ready in half an hour."

Emile was standing in the armory, which was actually just a bunch of guns leaning against rocks. He picked up an M90 Shotgun and aimed down the sights. This one could hold twelve shells opposed to six shells that the one he had left on Reach could. Emile thought back to that day. He left his shotgun in the drivers seat of the MAC cannon. Fail. He put the M90 across his back next to his MA5B, grabbed a few handfulls of shells and put them in the pouch strapped to his thigh, and left the amory.

He walked over to the surgery Pelican and peered through the window. Six was laying on the floor, having three blankets cover him from the waist down. His armor's undersuit was crappily folded and set on the floor about two feet away from Six. He had a breathing device strapped tightly over his mouth.

"You know that the oxygen mask is to help his cloned lung function right. Without it, his other lung would have to do all the breathing, which would cause lack of oxygen."

Emile sighed at the voice that came through his. "I know that, Cortana. I'm not stupid."

"I didn't say you were. I was making some chitchat."

"You should know that you shouldn't try to chitchat with a Spartan. We're not talkative."

"If you think that you're not talkative, you should try to talk to Chief. It's like talking to a brick." Cortana paused for a minute. "I accessed both yours and B-312's files. Yours was quite interesting."

"And Six's?" Emile said flatly, wanting to get off the subject of his file.

"This was more interesting. There was quite a bit of black ink. I tried to get through, but being stuck on Halo doesn't help."

The word was new to Emile. "Halo?''

"Didn't the Captain tell you?" That's what this ring is called, according to the Covenant. Keyes is going to tell the rest of the whole sheebang to the Marines at the debriefing in...three minutes."

"Perfect," Emile muttered as he walked toward the congregating group of Marines, only to find out that they weren't gathering for the debriefing.

_Six threw the frag at the ground. It hit the ground and rolled slightly to the left. It exploded, taking a good chunk of the oncoming Brute's torso out. It was a bloody mess. He was in New Alexandria on Reach. The city had fallen under attack by the Covenant. Six turned around and did a head count of the civilans that he was escorting. Thirty-three. Two had died. Six saw the corpses on the stairs. One had gotten his head taken off by a Gravity Hammer. The other was blown in half by a Concussion Rifle._

_ Wait, Concussion Rifle..._

_ Six turned and aimed his DMR at the walkways above him. Then a Brute Major jumped out of cover and off the walk way, firing the Concussion Rifle rapidly at the civilians. It got a full clip off be fore it it the ground. "Get to cover!" Six shouted at the civies as he fired three shots. Two hit the Brute in the chest, one in the leg. The Brute turned to him and fired three shots. Six fell to the ground, but he felt his arm that held the DMR get jerked backward. The Spartan heard Needle Rifle expolsions in the background. He let go of the weapon, and watched as it flew a few feet and hit the ground with a melted barrel. It had taken a direct hit fom the Concussion Rifle. _

_ Six grabbed his Magnum off of his hip, and formulated a plan. Then he executed it. He dove out of cover, firing like hell. "Die bitch, die bitch, die bitch," he screamed as emptied the rest of the clip into the Brute. Six chunked the last grenade he had at the Jiralhanae. It tried to jump away, but was killed by the frag. Six picked up the Concussion Rifle. "All right, let's move." He turned to face the civilians, but all there was was pools of blood and dismembered bodies. _

_ A needle hit his shoulder, taking part of his shields out. He fired the alien weapon at the offending Jackal snipers, killing them both. He looked at the civvies. It was a terrible scene. Disfiugered bodies everwhere. There was a man with his chest blown open, a woman behind him, her head a bloody mess. Worst of all, there was a little girl, not more than five years old. She had a hole through her face, and a blood-covered sticker on her blood-covered shirt. The sticker said: _Birthday Girl_. Six tried to hold it back, but he couldn't. He let the single tear roll down his cheek. _

Six opened his eyes. That was the third time he had had that nightmare since they had landed on the ring. He was in the back of a Pelican. _I couldn't save them. They all died because of me. _It had been troubling him since it happened._ It's not my fault. Forget it. _The last few hours were a blur. He took the oxygen mask off and stood up. There was a sharp pain in his side. Then he remembered. The plasma dagger and passing out in the Spirit. Glancing around, he saw his undersuit. He went toward it, limping and breathing heavily. He put it on and opened the Pelican's hatch. Light flooded in, blinding him for a short time. He covered his eyes with his left hand, using the right to clutch his side.

"Hey! Guess who's awake!" It was a woman's voice. He was beginning to see again, and looked toward the source of the voice. There were several blurs, and one was taller and greener than the others. He blinked a few times and his sight returned to normal. Marines had gathered around him, patting him on the back, and trying to shake his hands. "Where's my armor?" he asked, drowzily. A Marine pointes to some oddly shaped lumps under a blanket. "Thanks."

He limped over to the blanket, lifting it up to reveal his armor. He sat down on a rock and proceeded to put his armor on.

"Six, it's good to see you moving." Six glanced over at the approaching Spartan. ''How are you feeling?" Emile had a sense of relief in his voice.

"I'm fine, Emile," he responded as he put on his blue leg armor. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope. Keyes got some info from the guards in the Covie ship. They call this ring Halo."

"Fitting," Six commented as he put the last piece of his leg armor on. He was now armored to the waist. "Can you help me put on my shoulder armor?'' Emile did the latches while Six held his Grenadier shoulder armor. Then they moved on to the other shoulder. "Thanks."

"Keyes said we'll be fighting Covies soon. He says that there is a possible way off this ring," Emile said as he handed Six his chest plate. Six winced as it pressed against the wound, and after a few seconds the pain died down. Six stood up, stretched his arm and making sure the armor was on right. He glanced down at his blue Mark V helmet, the last thing he had to put on. He picked it up, and looked at it the same way he had on the day he joined Noble Team. He put on the helmet.

"How you doing, B-312?" The voice said over the com.

"Well, Cortana, I feel pretty shitty," Six responded, limping toward the armory. Emile was following behind him. "How about you?"

"I've been so bored," Cortana complained. "So I started reading through everyone's files. Did you know that Private Tallert M. Phillps was born on Earth?"

"Really?" Six asked with mock awe. He had reached the armory and was looking at a DMR. A few Marines were born on Earth. It was rare, but not unheard of.

"Well, it explains the whole Thanksgiving ordeal. His family is one of less than fifty families that still celebrate that holiday. And don't forget Christmas is coming up."

"Yeah, so?" Six had heard of Christmas. The holiday started out as a day to give presents to one another to celebrate the birth of an important religious figure. The holiday had gotten over commercialized and the ture meaning was lost. Everyone was so intent on buying stuff for their families and friends, and non-important stuff too.

"Well, you should keep in that in mind. I have to go, Keyes needs me for the delayed debriefing." Cortana left Six alone, and Six grabbed the DMR and attached it to his back once he saw the Marine in charge of the armory was dozing.

"Why was it delayed?" Six asked Emile.

Emile shrugged. "Don't know, but why don't we find out?" They headed towards the forward operating rock. It was just that. There were a few portable hologram projectors on it, along with some radios. Keyes was looking at a projection of an island, and then at a hologram of a jungle, with an entrance leading into a hill. The Marines had gathered on one side of the rock, with Keyes on the other. Chief was standing behind Keyes, also looking at the projections.

"I repeat. This is Echo Four-Nineteen. Found some more survivors during the scouting mission," came through one of the radios. "Best part is, they're Helljumpers." That certantly help lighten the already tense mood around the camp. ODST's were legendary, but not as legendary as Spartans. "ETA five minutes."

"Execllent work, Foehammer," Keyes said into the radio. He looked up and saw Six and Emile walk over. Well, actually, Six was still partially limping. Keyes smiled when he saw them. "How are you doing, Spartan?"

"I've been worse, sir," Six replied.

Keyes turned back to the the Marines. "All right, the mission is simple. There will be two teams. Team one will be headed to this location." He pointed at the jungle hologram. "Our scouts have...scouted it, and this might be the weapon that Halo has is stored." Some Marines gave a confused look. "I learned from the guards abord the Covie ship that they call this ring Halo, and that it has a weapon of some sort," Keyes explained, then he continued. "Team one will consist of squads One and Two, the Helljumpers, and myself." Now that was interesting. "Team two will land on this island. Somewhere on it is a map room that will show the location of Halo's control room. Squads Three and Four will lead by the three Spartans. Unless Serria B-312 isn't up for it."

Everyone was looking at Six. "I can handle it," he said.

"Good,'' Keyes replied, " Squad Five will remain here to hold down the fort. We move out as soon as the ODST's get here. Three minutes later, a Pelican soared over head. Keyes headed over to the Pelican landing zone, which was the largest area of flat land on the plateau. The Pelican landed, and the hatch opened. Seven black clad soldiers stepped out. Keyes greeted the ODST's, and then went right to filling them in on the plan.

"I don't like them," Emile said as he jumped in the back of a Peilcan. Six counted his DMR rounds as he climbed into the hatch. The other Marines were flicking their weapon's safties off, pulling the bolt back, and checking their clips.

"Just be glad we don't have to work with them," said Chief as he got on board. The Pelican began to move, and Six watched as the other Pelicans receeded into the distance.

_Sorry for the late chapter. I spent so much time proofreading it and all. Now to clear up some things._

_ Cubed ice: No harm done. Your review did help, and I appreicate you pointing out some things that I hadn't considered. Thanks!_

_Chapter 14 will probably be posted on Chirstmas day, just an FYI. It's going to be epic, and I look forward to hearing from you. So, on that note, Peace out!_

_-SL_

_R&R Please and thank you( for those who do )!_


	14. Chapter 14 : The End of the World

_I know that I said that the next chapter would be up on Chirstmas, but, I lied. This chapter was posted on the supposed end of the world. 12/21/12. Well, if this chapter is posted and you're reading this right now, the world didn't end. Yayuh! And it's finally another action chapter! Double Yayuh!_

_CHAPTER FOURTEEN : THE END OF THE WORLD..._

"Son of a bitch!" A Marine screamed as a plasma bolt hit the Pelican hatch just inches from his ear. The plasma melted the metal a bit, but not all the way through. Six jumped put of the hatch on to the island, firing away with is DMR. Three shots and a Jackal was dead. The Marines followed suit, hitting the ground with thier MA5's blazing Three were hit by carbines as soon as they hit the ground. One didn't even make it to the ground. Emile had his shotgun on his back, as it would be a waste to use at this range. Chief was up in the Covenant's face, punching a Grunt as hard as he could. The Unggoy's corpse did a barrel roll in the dirt, landing five feet away from Chief. Emile grabbed his shotgun and ran up the meet the aliens. Six looked at the hell of plasma and bullets that were flying around. He crouched next to a rock, aimed at an Elite Minor, and began to fire. First shot hit the Sangheili's torso, draining its shields. Second shot hit it in the leg, and the third hit it in the head, taking out the last of the shields. Then there was a loud gunshot and its head exploded in a bloody mess, with bits of skull and brain landing around the corpse. Emile was standing behind it, smoking shotgun in his hands.

"You kill-stealing ass!" Six shouted at Emile. Emile simply put his shotgun back on his back, grabbed his knife, and jumped on a Jakcal.

The Marines weren't doing to well. Tallert, Weirsbe, and another Marine fired their MA5's at the closest Elite which was a red-clad Major, which responded by throwing a Plasma Grenade at the three Marines. "Shit!" Tallert yelled as he dove to the side and rolled to cover. Weirsbe backed up as fast and as far away as he could. The other Marine wasn't so lucky. He tried to jump, but the blue ball of death exploded, melting the Marines Assault Rifle as well as his legs. Tallert tries to stand up, but something large tackled him. It was the Elite. "Shit!" he yelled as he punched it in the mandibles. It roared and activated its plasma dagger in its right wrist and stabbed at the pinned Marine. Tallert wriggled to the left as hard as he could and and the dagger went into the ground three inches from his left arm. He could feel the heat coming off of it. He punched it again, and again. The Major roared in anger. It grabbed Tallert by the neck and stood up arm posed to strike. Tallert kicked it in the chest, and pulled out his Magnum. The Elite punched him back in the face, causing him to drop the pistol. "Shit!" he yelled for the third time in as many minutes. There was some gunfire, and the Major's shields flickered, and under concentrated fire, it was brought down. Weirsbe and a medic dragged Tallert to saftety. He glanced back at the Spartans.

There wasn't many Covie troopers left. Six fired a round from his DMR, and scored a perfect headshot on a Grunt. he reloaded, and switched to his Assault Rifle. "Emile, how are you doing?" he asked over the com.

There was an shotgun shot in the background. "Fine, it's just another day at work. Kicking Covie ass in outer space."

Six sprinted up to a Covie crate and aimed peered out from behind it. Emile was a few meters ahead, shotgun in hand. You could tell that he was having a good time. Chief was farther up ahead with two Assault Rifles in hand, firing from the hip. An Elite went down, then a Grunt, and another, and another. Emile stuck his knife in the nearest Jackal's head, killing it instantly. Six looked around at the Marines who had been cut down in a matter of seconds. There were easily fifteen bodies, and they had only come with twenty-five Marines. Six sighed and raised his Assault Rifle and took aim at the last Elite. It was a Minor, and looked young, so it might act stupid and try to impress his superiors, then realize that they were dead. It was smarter than that. It dove for cover behind a rock, and a moment later, a blue ball came flying over. It stuck to a Marine right in the chest, and the Marine instantly began to run from the rest of his squad and bravely toward the Elite. He knew he was going to die, he put on a proud face, and he was going to take the bastard with him. Everyone was watching as he jumped over the rock and tackled the Minor. The grenade detonated, killing both of them. It was quite a mess.

"Causalty report," a Marnie yelled. He was a Sergeant, and was in control of Squad One. "Squad One lost seven, leaving their numbers at three. Squad Two had lost eight, thier numbers are at seven."

Six sighed. The Covies had killed billions. What was wrong with fifteen more? _You couldn't save them. They died like those civilians. It's all your fault, _a voice in the back of his head whispered. _No, _he thought, _they knew what they were getting into when they signed up. It's not my fault. _The voice whispered once more. Six turned his head, and saw the little girl from Reach, standing there, still blood-covered. _You failed to protect them, as you failed to protect me..._

"Holy shit!" Six screamed has he grabbed his DMR and aimed it at the girl. Not something a Spartan would normally do, but considering the circumstances...

Emile ran over to him, gun in hand, trynig to see what Six was aiming at. "What is it, Six?"

"Don't you see her?"

"Who?"

"The little girl."

Now Emile was concerned. Six had been able to hold himself together back on Reach, and Emile hoped that he wasn't about to crack. "It's probably just the wind," Emile pathectically joked, trying to calm Six down.

Chief walked over to them. "What's wrong?'' he asked.

"Spartan went crazy," Tallert said with a deadpan tone. He checked his Assault Rifle to give him something to do.

"He wouldn't be the first," Chief muttered as he walked away.

The girl vanished. Six lowered the DMR and walked slowly toward the other half of the beach, thinking about what had happened. Emile walked slowly behind him. _The end of Six's sane world is starting..._

"I didn't know you made housecalls, Foehammwe!" A Marines voice yelled.

"You know are motto," Forhammer replied wittly, "We deliver."

The Pelican flew over head, before lowering itself slowly toward the ground. It dropped its Warthog, and the Pelican flew off. Chief got in the driver's seat. "Same arrangement as last time," he told the other Spartans. Six climbed in the turrent and checked the ammo. Two full boxes. "We have enough ammo for about six-hundred shots," he informed Chief. Emile yanked a MA5 out of the hands a unsuspecting Marine. "I'm also good on ammo," he said as he hopped in the passenger seat. Chief put the pedal to the medal.

Cortana opened a private channel with Chief. "What's your opinion on this?" she asked.

Chief was silent for a minute. "Spartan II's wouldn't have gone crazy."

The AI took on an annoyed tone. "You going to have to get over the fact that they aren't the same Spartan as you. B312 has the rating of hyper-lethal, the same as you."

"Maybe so, but still you'd only need one Spartan II for this."

Cortana went full out on him. "Chief! Get! The! Hell! Over! It! Keyes ordered you to work with them! You're gonna have to do it!" She cut the channel, and opened a new one to Emile. "Any ideas?" she asked him.

"Six almost went insane one other time, back on Reach," Emile responded as he shifted the Assault rifle to his shoulder.

"Really? What happened?"

"It was shortly after Jorge died." Emile shook his head slightly.

"How did you deal wi-" She was cut off by gun fire. The Hog went full speed at a group of Grunts. Six opened up with the gun, mowing them all down. Emile took aim a Elite Minor, and fired in short bursts to save ammo. After the third burst, the Elite's shields broke. It fired at them, only missing Emile's head by two inches. Emile took aim at the Elite, only to have it hit with heavy machine gun fire.

Emile glanced back at Six. "You kill-stealing ass."

Behind his visor, Six smiled. The Hog plowed into a Jackal, cutting the poor Kig-Yar in half. A blue sphere stuck to the front of the Hog. "Again? Really?" Six fell back off the turrent, grabbing his DMR as he fell. He landed on his wounded side. Chief and Emile dove off to the side, Chief grabbed his Assault Rifle and firing upon the Elite Major that had thrown the Plasma grenade. Emile pulled out his shotgun, and ran toward three fleeing Grunts. The grenade exploded, leaving the Warthog unuseable. Emile fired the shotgun, giving a Grunt five new holes in its back. Six fired three shots from the DMR, hitting the Elite Major, draining its shields. Chief punched the Major in the face, finishing the shields. Chief then kicked the Major's legs, right at the joint, bringing it down. He emptied the rest of the clip into its face. Emile shot the last two Grunts, he pulled his pistol off of his hip, and shot them in the head to make sure.

"We going on foot again?" six asked as he stared at the burning Warthog. _Man, we have really bad luck with Hogs. _Chief nodded, and he began jogging. Emile put his pistol back on his hip, and followed. Six half-ran, half-limped after them. They went up a hill, and across a a small ledge on the left. There was a large structure there, and it looked like it was made out of the same material as the ring. The platform just outside of it was covered with Covenant. Four Grunts, two Jackals, and two Elites.

"Six, stay here and snipe the Grunts and Jackals," ordered Chief, and he jumped on to the platform. He was instantly the target of eight plasma guns. Emile grabbed his shotgun and ran after the Master Chief. Six sighed and aimed his DMR. He set a Jackal in his sights. The Kig-Yar was firing at Emile, totally unexpecting what happened next. There was the loud crack of the DMR, and the Jackal fell down, with a bullet in its brain. _Headshot, bee-yotch._

Emile ran at the Elite, firing his shotgun at the Major. The Elite fired its Plasma Rifle at him, some plasma blots hitting him, aome missed. Emile got close enough to kill it with the shotgun, but Six headshotted it.

"Damn it Six. Cut it out!" Emile yelled over the com. Six was, of course, smiling. He joined them as they entered the building. There were two walls on each side of the room, the prefect place for an ambush. Chief knew this, and grabbed one of hos Frags. He primed it, and threw it into the room. There were the screams of a few Elites, and the frag exploded. using the smoke from the explosion as cover, the Spartans entered. Behind the first wall on the right, there was an Elite Minor missing the lower half of its body. There was another Elite, nearly killed by the explosion, crawling toward his Plasma Repeater. Emile stepped on its hand, cocked the shotgun, and blew the Elites brains out. No homo.

Behind the second wall on the right, there was a door. It lead down a ramp, took a turn, and down another ramp, which lead to another small room, also filled with Covenant. "Don't let them lock the door!" Cortana yelled. This time, Six threw the grenade. It cleared out most of the room, execpt for one Elite Ultra. It was dual-weilding two Plasma rifles. The door behind it closed, protecting the Zealot in gold armor that was behind it. Emile ran at it, shotgun ready, but it smacked him in the head with one of the plasma weapons, the other one firing at Six, who was using a pile of dead Unggoy and Sangheili as cover. Emile collasped, and the Ultra stepped on him, and began stomping. Emile's shields flickered, they wouldn't last too much longer.

"Chief, catch!" Six threw his knife at Chief, who caught it with one hand. Six opened fire with his Magnum and DMR, drawing the Elites fire. Chief jumped on it, stabbing Six's knife through the Elites armor and into its head. Only a Spartan could do that with one stab. Six helped Emile stand up. Chief pulled Six's knife out of the Ultra and handed it to Six, who wiped the blood on the Elites corpse. They all stared at the locked door. Through the window, they could see the Zealot, arms crossed, giving them a daring look.

Six kicked the door. It had no effect. Execpt that it made the Zealot laugh. "Well, that door presents a problem," Six said.

"Thank you, Captian Obivious," said Emile.

_In case you were wondering about the title of the chapter, it means that it is the end of Six's sane world, as Emile pointed out. Anyway, Happy End of the World day! _

_I plan on starting another story, so the chapter updates might be slower than normal._

_Please R&R (If you're still alive)_


	15. Chapter 15 : Meanwhile

_**A/N: The reason that I have Tallert, Pango, and Getu in this story is it makes me able to tell the story of the war in different perspectives, just in case you were wondering. By the way, this chapter is used to get caught up on the other events happening on Halo. You might hate me for not getting right back to the mentally insane Six, but, I feel that we should catch-up with the other characters. So enjoy.**_

_CHAPTER FIFTEEN : MEANWHILE..._

Shipmaster Taal watched as the Phantom flew into the left hanger. Its Banshee escorts landed in the right side of the hanger. Sangheili Honor Guards jumped out of the troop holes on the bottom of the dropship, carrying their pikes. They took up defensive postions on either side of the Phantom. Then the last figure exited the ship.

The Sangheili was roughly taller than the others of his speices. He wore shiny gold armor. He had two Energy Swords, one hilt on each hip. Across his back were two Covenant Carbines, crossed in an 'x' form. The other Sangheili bowed at the sight of him, while Taal stood waiting.

The Zealot wlked up to the Shipmaster. "Bring me the traitor," the gold-armored Sangheili said. Taal made a motion to some Minors guarding a door, who nodded in response. The door behind them opened, and they went in. A few moments later, they came back dragging a Major, well, former Major, between them. The Minors dumped him at the Zealot's feet.

The Zealot crouched down to look the Major in the face. "Getu Sel'gath, you are a coward. You are unfit for the Great Journey." The Zealot stood up and continued. "Cowards run in your family. You brother, Drai Sel'gath, fled as this ship went into slipspace. Your entire family is unworthy of the Great Journey."

_Well, might as well go out with a bang. _Getu weakly got to his feet. He stared the Zealot in the eyes and said; "The Great Journey is shit."

The surrounding Sangheili gasped, leaving their mandibles wide open in shock. The Zealot was enraged. "You Heretic!"

_Now I'm definatly screwed. Might as well have some fun... _Getu punched the Zealot in the mandibles as hard as he could. "Take that, bitch!"

The rest of the Sangheili quickly pulled out their weapons, and pointed them at Getu. Taal activated his Energy Sword, and was preparing to swing. "I will take him." The crowd slowly lowered the weapons. The Zealot grabbed both of his Energy Sword hilts, activating one, and tossing the hilt of the other to Getu.

Getu reached out to catch it, but he missed and it hit him in the face. When he bent down to pick it up, the Zealot made his move. It raised its sword and jumped at Getu, bringing its sword down at the Major's head. Getu dove to the right before he could pick up his weapon.

The Zealot kicked the hilt of the sword toward Getu, who managed to get it his time. He flicked his wrist, and the dual plasma blades activated.

_Try not to be a coward, try not to be a coward._ He lunged at the gold-armored Sangheili, but the Zealot jumped to the side and swung at Getu. He ducked, but the Zealot's sword nicked his shoulder armor, cutting a good hunk of it off.

Getu reached under his chest armor while ducking the Zealot's next attack. _Time for my secret weapon... _He pulled out a small, purple tube about three inches long, and one inch wide, which got a questioning look from the other Elites in the room. He had made several of these weapons since he had been forced to join the military. He pressed a button on the top of it, and threw it at the ground. It exploded, creating a huge purple cloud of smoke around the ex-Major. Soon the entire room was covered. No one could currently see him through the smoke, so he ran for his escape vehicle.

"Thermals!" Getu heard the Zealot order. He got in the Banshee he had reached, and boosted out of the hanger. _Safe,_ he sighed in relief.

"After him!" Taal ordered two of his pilots, unable to see them through the smoke. "No," the Zealot stopped them. "Let him go. He has no where to go. That Banshee isn't capable of spaceflight, and the humans will shoot him at first sight. Perhaps he will relearn the glory of the Forerunners while stranded on the holy ring and be able to rejoin us." He turned to the Shipmaster. "Back to business. Where were these demons last seen?"

**. . .**

"This place gives me the creeps," a Marine said. There was the entrance to the facility that the scouts had...scouted.

"Quiet, soldier," ordered Keyes. They had landed about an hour ago. Actually, it was a crash landing. They had come under Covie fire when they first flew over the jungle. The Pelican pilot was able to bring down a Spirit, but they crashed nearby it.

The ODST's were following behind the squads of normal Marines, guarding the rear from Covenant flanking attempts. All of the team entered the room with raised weapons. Keyes hung back with the ODST's; he felt more protected around them. There was an elevator-like platform in the room, and they all got on it in complete slience. Keyes looked at the holographic controls, and pressed a random button. The elevator slowly began to decend.

"So," said a Marine, breaking the silence. "Any of you heard of a Helljumper named Frank Castillo?" He asked the ODST's. His nametag identified him as Marvin Mobuto.

"Yeah," answered a ODST with a gruff voice.

"He's pretty kickass, right?" Mobuto persisted.

"Yeah," the ODST said curtly.

"I was in his team once," Mobuto half-bragged.

"Is that so?" The ODST said, trying to sound amused.

The elevator reached the floor, and the squad stepped off, weapons raised. "Jenkins, why don't you take point?" asked Johnson, the Sergeant that was in control of the squad. Jenkins sighed and walked to the front of the group. He peered around the corner of the door and quickly pulled his head back as several super heated plasma bolts flew right through where his face had been. "Covenant," he informed them. The ODST that had been quite the talker (sarcasm) on the elevator ride jumped into action. He rolled to the side, frag in hand. He threw it as hard as he could at the aliens. Keyes could hear Grunt screams from the room. The Helljumper fired an entire clip of his Assault Rifle into the room. There were no more Grunty screams.

Keyes entered the room first, hand on his pistol. "Nice shot, soldier," he complimented, glancing at a white-armored Elite corpse with its chest blown open.

"I didn't do that, sir." That had been the most words that the ODST had spoken all day.

"Then what the hell did?" Keyes asked as he and some other Marines gathered around the corpse, sharing their opinions on what had killed it.

The talkitive ODST continued froward, heading to the next room. "Captain, this way," he said, trying to get the misson over with as soon as possible. They entered a large room with a light bridge already activated. Three ODST's took point, with four in the back. Keyes and the Marines were in the middle.

"The Covenant have been here," said a female ODST in the back. Female ODST were rare, but there were a few out there.

"Mobuto, take your squad and three of the Helljumpers out to cover the entrace," Keyes ordered. "I don't want the Covenant to get their hands on this weapon."

**. . .**

"And that is my wife, Anna, and my daughter, Sarah." Wiersbe was showing one of his family photos to some other Marines on the beachhead. On the picture, there was a woman Wiersbe's age, which had to be his wife, there was a teenage girl standing next to her, smile reaching from chin to chin, was his duaghter. She was about fourteen, long blonde hair reaching down the back of her neck. She had Wiersbe's green eyes.

Tallert was off flirting with Karrie, the prettiest Marine in his squad. "And then there was the time I shot down an Elite General. He was twice as tall as I was, and he had a Fuel Rod Cannon." Wiersbe had finished showing his pictures to the Marnies and walked over to the two of them. "Have I shown you the pictures of my wife and kid?" he asked.

"About a hundred times," Tallert muttered. "I was just telling Karrie about the time I took on that Elite General. Remember?"

"Was that the one that was weakened because it had five Spartans shooting it? Or the other one?"

"The other one," Tallert said, trying to save his chances with the girl.

"That was the one that almost killed you. The only reason you lived was that you ran screaming like a little girl, and you ran right into someone with a Scorpion. That was some funny shit! I think I got it on my helmet cam."

"Piss off!"

Wiersbe tapped some buttons on his helemt. "Here it is. I uploaded it to the web on August twenty-nin-" He never finished his sentence. He never would. A Carbine round tore a hole in his face, killing him instantly. The body fell to the ground as Tallert grabbed his Assault Rifle off of his back. "Get your rifle!" he ordered Karrie. "Gee, like I was going to do anything else!" she yelled back. _I don't think she likes me, _Tallert thought. It still hadn't sunk in that his best friend had just been killed.

All the Marines were now aiming at the attacker. It was a lone Elite in gold armor. A Zealot. It was holding a Covenant Carbine in its hands, with another on its back. The Marines opened fire, and the Zealot calmly fired three rounds from his Carbine. Three Marines went down, hole in their heads. The remaining humans began to take cover, one even had a M41 Rocket Launcher with him. He fired a rocket at the Elite, who fired a round from his Carbine, which hit the rocket and blew it up, only a few yards from it. Then it put its Carbine on its back, crossing it in an "x" on its back. It grabbed both of its energy swords and activated the blades. Shit was going down.

It ran toward and jumped on the nearest Marine, breaking his ribcage. The Zealot stabbed him right in the face. The last five Marines fired on it, but it shields were strong enough to withstand the bullets. The Elite slashed the rocket Marine through the chest, cutting him in two. It started toward the last standing Marines.

"Retreat!" Tallert yelled to the last four Marines. He fired another fifteen rounds into the oncoming Zealots face.

"You ain't in charge, kid," one Marine spat back. Tallert wasn't a kid. He was nineteen, but, what ever.

"Well, the el-tee is dead," Tallert retorted, guesturing at the Marine that was disconnected from his legs. Tallert fired the rest of the clip into the damn Zealot.

"Point taken," the Marines said, and he took off running down the beach. The Zealot dropped one of his swords and took one of its Carbines out, and fired. Perfect headshot. It walked toward Tallert, Karrie, and the other Marine.

_Well, die like a man. _Tallert stood between Karrie and the Zealot, shaking Assault Rifle raised. "Come any closer, and I'll kill you."

"My hero," Karrie sacastically muttered.

The Zealot laughed, then swung his sword, cutting the Assault Rifle in two. "Shit," Tallert said. "That didn't work." The Elite closed in on them. It would take a miracle to save them.

"Hey, split-lip, suck on this!"

_**A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger ending, sorta. This chapter would have been up sooner, but on Christmas day, I opened one of my presents, and to my surprise, was my very own Xbox 360. I was using my brother's up until now. Anyway, it had wireless internet access, so I have been on Xbox LIVE all day. Yeah-uhh! People who have LIVE know how addicting it is!**_

_**And, if anyone noticed, I borrowed the name **_**Frank Castillo **_**from The Life by casquis. He gave me full permission, so don't call me a theif. If you haven't read his story, read it. It's really damn good. And it will give you something to when trying to avoid homework. **_

_**Last thing. Some might have noticed that I started a new fanfic, **_**Across Many Universes. **_**Updates on that story will be late, as I am having to work everything together. **_

_**Please R&R! Thanks...Peace.**_

_**-SL**_


	16. Chapter 16 : Miracle

_**A/N: Happy Late New Year! I was going to give this chapter a new year's theme, but it's kinda hard to do when the characters are trapped on a bigass ring in space. But still, enjoy!**_

_CHAPTER SIXTEEN : MIRACLE_

_You failed to save us. You are a failure of a Spartan. _The whispery voices had come time it was the man who had died protecting his wife. Six tried to ignore them, but they kept getting louder and louder. They had left the building in order to find the controls that opened the locked door. Emile was a few yards up ahead of him, with Chief a few yards ahead of Emile. Six gritted his teeth and began to endure the voices for as long as possible.

He took a few more steps, and Six heard a roar. A Brute roar. He turned to see a large cheiftain charging at him, Gravity Hammer in hand. He grabbed his DMR and fired four rounds into its face. It didn't stop. In fact, it wasn't even hit. It reached Six and ran right up to him and disappeared. "Oh," was all Six could say. Emile and Chief were looking at him with their weapons aimed at whatever Six had shot at. Seeing that it was another hallucination, Chief slowly shook his head and continued walking. Emile followed shortly after.

"So, what did you do when B312 first started acting like this? You said it was after S-052 died." Cortana had opened yet another private link to Emile. She had been doing this alot recently.

"Well, we offered him ice cream," recalled Emile.

"Really, and that worked?"

"Not really, but Jun and I found some when we were raiding the ONI tower's food supply in New Alexandria. So we gave it to him. He didn't take it though," Emile sighed. "The big man was sentimental," he said, remembering his words from that day.

"S-052's file reads that he was a Spartan II. And the rest of you were III's. Did the II have any trouble with the III's? Did he think that they were inferior?" Cortana asked him.

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Nothing."

Emile put the pieces together. "It's Chief, isn't it?"

"Was I that obivious?" Cortana asked, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Chief thinks that you and Six aren't as good as he is."

Emile glanced back at Six, who was seven yards behind them, walking with his face down. "Because he's a two and we're threes, right?"

"Pretty much," Cortana said, bluntly.

Six was in the fourth minute free of any mysterious Brutes and dead little girls. But he still felt uncomfortable. Something wasn't right. The Marines on the beachhead were supposed to check in fifteen minutes ago. "Noble Six to beachhead. Noble Six to beachhead. Come in beachhead." Nothing but static. He ran up to Chief. "We should check on the Marines. They haven't checked in."

"The Captain needs us to find the control room as soon as possible," Chief said with authority. "I'm not going to let him down."

"But they could be dead or dying. We have to find out."

"You and Emile go check on the Marines. I'll go ahead and find the security controls," Chief said. "Then we'll meet up for extraction."

"Yes _sir,"_ Six said sarcastically. He turned to Emile. "You heard him. Lets move."

Chief took off sprinting, and they sprinted in the opposite direction. It was a circular island, so if they stuck to the shore, they would find the humans eventually. After fifteen meters, they found a flipped Warthog with three dead Marines laying in pools of their own blood. Some parts of their armor was melted where it had been stuck by plasma, and one Marine was missing a large chunk of his leg.

_Oh hell, please don't start more hallucinations. Please no. _Six begged his conscience as he took in the sight. Emile began searching the bodies while Six went over to the Hog. He lifted the heavy vehicle after several failed attempts. It seemed to be in working order.

"Jackpot!" Emile exclaimed as he tossed a DMR clip to Six. He caught it with one hand, and put it in the pouch above his butt. It felt empty.

"Hey, where did my Cokes go?"

"Some Marines probably took them."

Six could see right through that lie, mainly because Emile had used it before. Six glared at him from behind his visor. Emile knew he was busted.

"Hey, in my defense, I got thirty shotgun shells for them. And you know I'm a badass with a shotgun."

Six sighed. "Forget it, just grab the grenades and any med packs and lets get outta here."

Emile complied, tossing three frags and two medical packs into the passneger seat floorboard, and jumped into the turrent. "Twenty bucks says this thing going to be blown up as soon as we need it."

"I'll take that bet. Keep in mind that I don't drive like Chief, so it's gonna make it this time."

Emile would have face palmed had he not had his helmet on. He was letting Six drive. "Oh shit." Six floored the pedal, and the Warthog went racing across the beach. They passed the remains of thier old Hog. "Get ready," Six ordered Emile. "We're coming up on the beachead.

"I don't take orders from you, but what ever." Over the roaring of the engine, Six could hear Emile pulling the slide on the machine gun. Emile checked the ammo supply and sent Six a green light to his HUD. Green lights were used when you didn't feel like talking, were on a stealth mission, or when you couldn't be heard.

Six saw the green light appear right above the motion tracker on his HUD and nodded, not really caring if Emile saw it or not. The Hog flew over a sand dune, and Emile swung the gun to face the Hog's front. The vehicle's front left tire hit a rock and promptly was sent sideways, flipping over about three hundred feet from the beachhead the were heading for. Six and Emile got out and ran, Six looking throught scope on his DMR. "I see one Elite, and three Marines," Six said between breaths. He got a better look at the Elite. "Oh shit, it's a Zealot."

"That complicates things a little bit," Emile commented as he reached for his shotgun. He was keeping pace with Six, and were about halfway to the Marines when they picked up radio chatter from them.

_ "...ome any closer, and I'll kill you."_

_ "My hero, _came a sarcastic female voice. There were a few in audible sounds, which Six assumed came from the Elite. Then a wierd slicing sound. _"Shit, that didn't work."_

Emile was close to the Elite when he pulled out a frag, pulled the pin, pulled his arm back and let it fly. "Hey, split-lip, suck on this!" he yelled as the grenade landed next to the Zealot. The Elite roared as it saw the new comers. It dove to the left, giving Six some time to put himself in between the Marines and the Zealot.

"We're glad to see you, Spartan," one Marine said. Six looked at the suriving humans. Two of them he didn't recognize, and the third was none other than Tallert.

"Get your weapons ready, we're gonna take this Covie bastard out," Six ordered the Marines, who answered by raising weapons. Tallert ran over to a corspe and picked up a DMR. Six reached into his butt pouch and handed Tallert a spare clip.

"He got away. Active Camo," said Emile as he joined the group. "I got him on the thermals, but he's too far out of range." Emile pointed at the direction the Spartans had come from. Six raised his DMR and looked through the scope, and Tallert did the same. Six saw the flipped Hog get unflipped, and the Elite appeared as it got in the drivers seat. The Hog drove off in the opposite direction.

"I'll be damned," Tallert muttered. "When did they learn to drive Warthogs?"

"Don't know, don't care," Six answered. "Lock and load, we're meeting up with the Master Chief."

Emile tapped Six on the shoulder. "You owe me twenty bucks."

**...**

The wounded Elite Minor slowly crawled toward his Plasma Rifle. Blood was pouring from the bullet holes in its leg. It reached its had out to the weapon, and got a grasp on it. A green metal boot slammed down on his wrist with a sickly cracking sound. The Minor roared in pain as another green boot slammed into its face, killing the helpless alien.

Chief ejected the empty clip from his Assault Rifle and loaded in a new one. He pulled the slide back, and contined up the hill. There was a small canyon, with a few rocks scattered around. They could make good cover. He dove behind one as plasma bolts flew over his head. There were some more Covenant there, at least three grunts and two Elites, firing at the rock, pinning him down.

"Bet'cha wish Six and Emile were with us now," Cortana said.

"Not really." Chief pulled the pin out of a frag grenade and tossed it over the rock. he stood up and fired at the nearst Covie, which was a Minor who was diving for cover after the frag had landed a few feet from him. Chief's first volley of bullets tore through the shields, while the grenade expolsion finished it off along with two unlucky Grunts. The Spartan pulled out his pistol and began firing with both weapons. One shot from the Magnuma, and the third Grunt had an extra hole in its head. The last Elite roared as it charged Chief, Plasma Repeater blazing. Chief reached down and picked up a plasma grenade, while his shields took most of the plasma. He primed the blue ball of death, and stuck it to the Elite when it got close enough. Chief rolled the the side as the Elite exploded, sending blood and internal organs everywhere.

"Told you I didn't need them," Chief remarked as he continued walking. Then he saw the next thing that the Covenant had thrown at them.

"You sure?" Cortana asked with concern in her voice, watching as the two Hunters slowly started walking toward them with their heavay cannons charging.

_**A/N: A few things to get out of the way;**_

_**1: You might have noticed that I took out the **_**Combat Evolved **_**from the title. I thought it made more sense to do one big story than a few small ones.**_

_**2: Chapters 1-8 will be rewritten. I have said that before, but never really got to work on it.**_

_**3: If any of you readers want to send me a friend request on Xbox LIVE, my gamer tag is Trevor443. Yes, that's my real first name, and that's the only personal info you get from me!**_

_**4: My other story, **_**Across Many Universe **_**has been placed on hold. I just don't have enough time to write both of these stories. But rest assured, I will continue soon.**_

_**5: Sixteen chapters and only eighteen reviews. Come on people, we can do better. I'm not going to force you to review, but if you do, it will be appriecated.**_

_**Peace out!**_

_**-SL**_


	17. Chapter 17: I Hate Those Things

_**A/N: When I first started this story, I wasn't sure that anyone would like it. But it seems I was wrong. I send my thanks out to those who have been reading since I first started. Thank you for your continued support, and I thank you for all future support!**_

* * *

_CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : I HATE THOSE THINGS_

The first hunter fired, forcing Chief to dive behind the closest rock. The fuel rod impacted the ground near Chief, the intense heat turning it into solid glass.

"I could use some heavy ordinace," Chief suggested to Cortana.

"Sorry, but we lost contact with the base about an hour ago. Could be a malfunction, or we might be out of range," the AI said with a apologetic tone. "But you always manage to win, somehow."

Chief reached for his last grenade, pulled the pin and left it fly. It landed at the feet of the oncoming Hunter, the other was providing cover from a safe distance. The frag exploded, damaging the Hunters shield.

"I was hoping for a better outcome," Cortana admitted.

"So was I," Chief said as he began to formulate a plan. Plasma bolts hit inches from Chief's head, and he spun to face the source of the shots. A gold-armored Zealot was charging right at him, Energy Sword in one hand, Plasma Rifle in the other.

Things pretty much went to hell everyday in Chief's life.

* * *

_That jackass, no good, slime shiting girl stealer! _He wasn't really known of his selection of words. Tallert angrily watched as the other Marine that had survived, Sargeant James Miller, flirted with Karrie. They were walking side by side a few feet in front of him, with the Spartans in the back. She was laughing at nearly everything he said, and he had a lot more interesting war stories. Tallert's best one was the one about the Elite General, the one where he actually killed it, but Wiersbe had messed that up with the story of the first General he had encountered. _I'm gonna kill him as soon as...hell. _Then it hit him. His only friend since he had joined the Marine Corps had been killed.

He stopped in his tracks, staring out into space. He could remember the time they first met at boot camp. He could remember the time Wiersbe kept telling the story of how he had got laid for the first time. He could remember Wiersbe's promotion to Sargeant, and the feeling of jealousy he had felt. He could remember when he had first met his wife and daughter. He sighed as he thought of the teenager losing her father. It had happened to him, but that was eight years ago. He held back his emotions and kept walking.

"I still can't get the base or Chief on the coms," Six told Emile through the private channel.

"The Covies could have put up a jammer," Emile suggested helpfully.

"I doubt it. We were able to communicate with the base for a while. Forget it, let's just focus on finding Chief and getting to the Control Room." He turned to the Marnies. "Double time it!" he ordered, and they took off in a sprint. The Spartans easily caught up to the Marines ahead of them, and passed them. After a few yards, they came across the dead Marines where Six and Emile had gotten the Warthog.

"Oh my god!' Karrie screamed as she saw one of the corpse. Tallert recoginzed it as Karrie's brother, who he had see on the Autumn several times. Karrie burst into tears. Miller put his arm around her, causing Tallert to scrowl.

"Chiefs been through here," Emile obsevered, noting several Covie bodies leading up a small hill and through a small canyon like thing. He carefully walked up the hill, making sure to kick every dead Covie in his way.

Miller looked at Six, and Six understood what he wanted. "You can stay here with her," he answered him, and then motioned to Tallert, who was looking slightly unhappy. "You staying?"

Tallert looked at the two Marines, and shook his head. Six turned toward the hill. a faint Hunter roar could be heard. "Then let's go."

Emile saw the Zealot, and he saw Chief directly in its path. He raised his shotgun at it, and fired. The Zealots shields flickered, but remained strong. It turned, and gave a slightly surprised expression when it saw Emile. This made him conclude that it wasn't the same one that was on the beachhead. "What, split-lip-bitch, didn't expect me?"

The Zealot fired at Emile with its Plasma Rifle, while lashing out at Chief with the sword. A few cracks of a DMR could be heard, and Six jumped into the action. The combined firepower of the three Spartans brought it down, and a well placed shotgun-to-the-face made sure it was dead.

"Now are you happy that they're here?" Cortana asked Chief.

"Slightly." Cortana felt happy now that Chief was accepting them. Or so she thought. "They can be Hunter bait," Chief continued, pointing at the Hunters slowly walking up the hill. One of them reached the top, and the Spartans took cover. A single DMR shot hit the Hunter in the unprotected face area, burying the bullet deep inside. Then its head exploded, killing it instantly. Six, Chief and Emile looked toward the source of the shot. Tallert was standing there, holding a DMR with a smoking barrel.

"How in the hell did you do that?" Six unprofessionally asked.

"Explosive round," came the modest answer. "And it might have been tipped with some C4."

Emile thought about the possiblity if they made explosive shotgun shells as the second Hunter reached the top of the hill. It roared as it saw its fallen brother. It roared again, and charged at the Spartans and Marine. Bullets pinged off its armor as it rasied it shield to strike. Emile dove left, Six dove right, Chief dove under its legs, grabbed his pistol, and stood up behind it. Chief jumped on the Hunter's back, and used the spikes to climb up to its head. He jammed his pistol between the orange worms in the brain area, and fired the entire clip. The Hunter fell dead, and Chief pulled his Magnum out.

"Well, that's taken care of, you should try going over here," Cortana siad to the group as she placed a marker on their HUDs. Tallert, who didn't have a HUD, just followed the Spartans. In the opening where the Hunters had come from, there was a large circular structure that had an arm like wall attached to it. The group crossed it and encountered more Covies. The four of them easily dispatched them and came across a large building.

"This what we're looking for, Cortana?" Chief asked.

"I think so. We can't be sure until we go in."

Inside the building there was a large room covered in Covenant crates. "You know, I think this is it. The Covenant wouldn't have left all their weapons and stuff in an unimportant room." Six said as he carefully walked into the room, DMR raised. Chief and Emile followed, while Tallert lingered at the door. Two Hunters walked into the room, heavy plasma cannons charging. "Son of a bitch! I hate those things! How many Hunters do they have on this damn island!" Six yelled in anger. This was the third pair they had fought on this mission. The group each jumped behind separate crates.

"I'm outta explosive rounds. I only had that one!" Tallert informed the Spartans.

Chief jumped clear of a green fuel rod as it passed. "Emile, shotgun to the face." He ordered pointing at the Hunter, once again assuming leadership.

"You mean to run straight up to them and shoot them with a close ranged weapon?" Six asked, joining the conversation. Chief nodded. "That's suicide!"

"Fine, I'll do it. Emile toss me the shotgun. Emile looked at his weapon of choice, at Chief, and back to the shotgun. He hesistated, and then tossed it and pulled out his pistol.

Chief caught the airborne shotgun and ran at a Hunter. The Hunter was surprised. No human had ever done _that _before. It brought the heavy shield down at the green Spartan, but chief rolled to the side, and fired the shotgun at the mid section. The stomach area was blown apart, leaving the Hunter in two pieces. The next shotgun shell went right ino the Hunter's face, killing it.

Meanwhile, Six opened a purple alien crate was looking through the contents. _Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, Needler, aha, Plasma Grenade,_ he thought as he took the blue ball. He saw the first Hunter go down, and then Chief turned his attention to the second. Emile was firing at it with his pistol, not really causing any damage. The Marine was checking his pouches for any explosive bullets. The Hunter had its back to him, so Six ran up behind the Hunter, priming the Plasma Grenade. He tossed it right at the exposed back area, and dashed for cover. The Hunter went down, or rather up, in a blue explosion. There was nothing save for some orange blood and melted metal left.

"Stay here. I'll find the controls," Chief told them. He walked toward the hall the Hunters had come from.

"So, about those explosive rounds. Do they really have C4 in them? Wouldn't that blow up the gun?" Six asked the Marine.

"There is an extremly high chance that it will. My friend on Reach made some," Tallert said, "he died when his gun exploded." He chuckled slightly. "ONI never figured that one out."

"Could you make some for a shotgun?" Emile asked, uncharacteristally.

"I doubt it, my old CO invented them. He taught a few other Marines, I wasn't one of them."

Chief re-entered the room. "The security controls are down. Now let's find the Cartographer."

* * *

_**A/N: I'm truly sorry for the delay, but with school and all that, it's been hard to work on this chapter. I feel like this chapter isn't as good as the rest. **__**I haven't forgotten about Six hallucinating. It just wasn't mentioned in this chapter. **__**I decided that will take OC's. I don't know why, but it might be fun. Just send me a PM. **__**I have goal. The goal is to get to sixty reviews by chapter 20. I hope we can make it, and be sure to tell all your friends about this story!**_

_**BTW, explosive rounds are pretty sweet.**_

_**Thank you for all of your support. I appreciate it.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	18. Chapter 18 : Cartographer-Part 1

_CHAPTER EIGHTEEN : CARTOGRAPHER - Part 1_

"The security controls are down. Now let's find the Cartographer," Chief said as he walked back into the room.

"Like we have another option," muttered Emile as he headed for the door. Then plasma fire came seemingly out of no where. The first volley hit Emile right as the Spartans and the lone Marine rasied their weapons and opened fire on the source of the shots; an Elite cloaked with active camo.

Six pulled the trigger on his DMR four times. There were three loud snaps, and one click. "Perfect timing," he muttered to himself as he tossed the the empty clip behind him. He fumbled to his side pouch for his other clip, but it wasn't there. Something behind him roared and hit him in the back of the head. He sunk to the floor, hand flailing for his knife. The Elite deactivated its camo climbed on top of him, Plasma Dagger ready. The last time that Six had faced one of those, he almost died.

The Elite stabbed at Six, but the Spartan grabbed the offending Sangheili's wrist in one hand, using his free hand to punch the alien in the face. The Elite roared, opening its mandibles in Six's face. "You're one ugly-ass bitch," Six taunted the Elite. The Elite roared again, breaking its wirst free of the Spartan's grip. A combat knife stabbed the Elite right in the roof of its mouth, and then its head was twisted to the side, breaking its neck.

"Thanks," Six said as he kicked the corpse off of him. He was expecting to see Emile, but instead he saw the Marine. Tallert's jaw hung open in shock.

"Did I kill that thing?" Tallert asked. He was mostly the one who took down Jackals and Grunts, and in that one case, a Hunter.

"Yeah. You saved my ass," Six responed as he picked up his dropped DMR and saw Emile and Chief pinned down by the other Elite. Six raised the DMR, looked through the scope, and squeezed the trigger. Then he remembered that the clip was empty. "Damn..." He reached into the pouch attached to the back of his Commando chest armor, and found a spare clip. "That's much better," he said as he saw the ammo count on his HUD show one full clip for his DMR. Six shot the Elite in the head, draining some of its shields. The Sangheili dove behind a crate, unknown to the Spartans he activated the blades of his Energy Sword.

"I got this." Chief pulled the pin on a grenade that he had stole from Emile. He threw it, and it bounced once before it landed next to the crate. The Elite rolled to the side, leaving itself open to fire. It was swamped with automatic fire and DMR shots. Emile ran over to it and stomped on its hand, the downed alien roared in pain at the sickly cracking sounds. One shotgun blast later, the Elite's head was a bloodied mess on the floor.

"Good news! Once I saw we were against Hunters, I called for some heavy weapons. The Pelican should be here right about..." There was an explosion out side the building.

"There it is," Six commented, grimly.

"Hopefully, some of the rocket launchers will still be in one piece," the AI said. The group walked up the ramp that led out of the ancient metal building. "The Covenant did a number on that bird," Tallert commented as he saw the Pelican. It had crashed into a rock, killing anyone that had been on board. The back hatch had opened, with the contents spewed out along the sand. From what they could see, there were two rocket launchers on the ground, and three dead Marines. Oh, yeah, and there were a few Grunts and Jackals inspecting the crash, oblivious to the humans above them.

"All right, we'll take them out covertly. Six, and Marine, aim for the heads from up here. Chief and I will jump down there and engage them," Emile said, well, ordered. With that, he jumped off the ledge and landed almost silently on the ground. One of the many perks of having high-tec armor. Chief followed suit and drew his combat knife that he had found on some fallen Marine.

Six raised his DMR, squeezing down on the trigger after he took aim. There was a loud crack as a Jackal fell to the ground with a hole between his eyes. Six smiled, even as the Covies down there began to search for the source of the shot, which distracted one Grunt for long enough that a Spartan in gray armor was able to sneak up behind him and break his neck.

Tallert aimed his DMR at the nearest Grunt, and fired, but the Unggoy just so happened to turn its head and the bullet went flying right on by. "Damn," the Marine muttered to himself as he took aim at the Grunt again. This time the bullet hit the now fleeing Grunt's methane tank, and it went flying. It was about fifty feet in the air, which was quite impressive, when the tank blew up. Needless to say, the humans were pretty much compromised.

Chief immediantly grabbed his Assualt Rifle and opened up on the remaining Covies. The automatic fire struck a Grunt in the head, and a Jackal in the shoulder. The Spartan II held his MA5 in one hand as he pulled out the M6D with his free hand. Three chest shots later, the Jackal was dead. Chief dropped three more Grunts with perfect headshots.

Emile fired his shotgun, tearing the arm off a poor Grunt, leaving a bloody stump. The Grunt really didn't have to worry about it, since Emile crushed its head two seconds later. "Die you bastard!" He yelled as his foot kicked the face of a Jackal. When you're wearing metal boots that weigh a shit-load, that's pretty effective. The jackal staggered backwards, with its jaw bleeding. Emile raised his shotgun and was about to fire, when a DMR shot tore through the Kig-Yar's skull. "Six! That was my kill!" He wasw pissed.

"Hey that wasn't me this time!" Six yelled back. Emile could hear the Marine snickering in the background. Six shot the last Grunt, and jumped down to join Emile and Chief.

"Uh, that's a long way down," Tallert said, as he looked down the ledge. In truth, it was a long way down. For a normal human.

"Then go get the other Marines, and get evac," Six told him. Tallert walked off, and Six walked over to the crashed Pelican to see Emile and Chief each pick up a rocket launcher. "Hey, I wanted one," he complained.

"Gee, you think we would give a highly explosive weapon to someone who has been hallucinating? That's a real smart move," Emile said, slinging the weapon over his back.

"I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary in.." he checked the clock on his HUD. "Forty-five minutes."

"Still, I'd rather you use that sniper rifle instead." Chief pointed at the long ranged weapon in the wreakage. Six picked it up, trying ot ignore the blood splatter on one side. He checked the ammo.

"It's only got seven shots," Six said. He slung the weapon over his back, and the trio headed for the building holding the Cartographer.

After about a minute of silent walking, Cortana opened a private channel with Six. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. My side sometimes still hurts, but I'll live," he responded flatly.

"That's not what I was tlking about," Cortana said.

"Oh, yeah, mental problems. I'd rather not talk about it."

Cortana sighed. "It'll only get worse if we don't fix it soon. I think we should-"

"I'm not going to talk about it! That's final!" Six cut the channel, leaving Cortana astonished. She opened a two-way private channel to Emile and Chief.

"Did you talk to him?" Said Chief's gravelly voice.

"I tried but he shut me out. Emile, you said this happened before. What did you do?"

"Well, we didn't do anything. When Six was helping the evacuations in New Alexandria, he met another Spartan team that was assisting. Among the team there was a Spartan that he had been friends with in boot camp."

"Who was he?" Chief asked. This surprised Emile; he didn't think Chief would care for the wellbeing of a III.

"She was Ashley-B341. Six told me that they had got to talking, and that he had forgotten about all the deaths he saw," Emile finished, and began to fiddle with the saftey on his shotgun.

"So," Cortana began, "We need to get Six a date?"

"Perhaps."

"Six insn't a normal Spartan, is he?" Chief asked.

"Nope," Emile answered. "We always called him The Odd One." The three ended thier chatting session and resumed to walk in slience.

* * *

Plateau Base, 6:43pm, September 17th

Pang'nag, more commonly known as Pango, was not having a good day. The Grunt was still the humans' captive, and since he was a lowly Unggoy, it was unlikly that a rescue mission was underway. When we last saw the him, he was being interrogated. Nothing has changed.

"Now, I'm going to ask nicely. Where the hell is you damn planet?!" The Grunt was cowering from the human in front of him. When the shaking Grunt didn't answer, the Marine, Sergeant Marcus Welby, took out his pistol and fired a shot into the air, causing the Grunt to scream.

"Sarge," a Marine said as she walked over to him. "Don't you think you're being a little to harsh to him?"

Welby spun on her. "Harsh? Harsh?! _I'm _being to harsh on _him_? Collins, those Covies glassed Harvest, Reach, and a whole bunch of other human planets, killing billions of innocent civilians, and you think I'm being harsh on him?" The sarge pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it, taking a big drag. He coughed and spit it out on the ground, and stepped on it. _Johnson never did have good taste with cigars._

"Um...sir? You might want to see this." Welby sighed as he looked at the cowering captive. "I'll get back to you." He walked over to the group of Marines gathering around the snipers nest. "What is it?"

"See for your self." The Marine handed him the sniper rifle, and pointed out into the distance. Welby looked through the scope. "My God!" he exclaimed. He could see eight Phantoms heading thier way, each one escorted by two Banshees. "Do they know we're here?" The Banshees in the distance opened fire, most of the plasma bolts dissolved before the reached the base. "Yep." _Oh shit._

_**A/N: I apologize for the long delay, most of it is due to me being lazy, and part just because I wanted to take a break. Anyway, the goal has been dropped to fifty reveiws by chapter twenty. So help someone out and hit the review button and type something postive. Damn, I'm pretty desprate...**_

_**Oh yeah, some might recoginze the name I used for the Sergeant at the end; Marcus Welby. If you do, well, kudos!**_

_**Peace out!**_


	19. Chapter 19: Cartograhper-Part 2

_Chapter Nineteen : The Cartogrpher-Part 2_

"Well, I've been looking through the files of all the female Marines that survived the Autumn's crash, and I think I found one suitable for Six," Cortana said, breaking the silence. They were still a good distance from the Cartograhper building.

"What? Really? I thought you were joking," Emile exclaimed. "Who is it?"

"Private First Class Karrie Moor. I think that they would get along well."

"Yeah, if she isn't like almost every other Marine, and think that Spartans are freaks," Chief interjected. He was at the head of the group, leading the way.

"Chief, why are you so damn pessimistic? You're going to jinx it," Cortana complained.

"You're an AI! you don't believe in jinxes!"

"Don't tell me what not to believe in!" Cortana yelled back. Emile rolled his eyes. "Just forget it," Cortana said. "Emile, anything else that could help?"

Emile hesistated. "Well, there is one thing, but Six doesn't want me to tell anyone."

"It's okay. It's for his own good," Cortana assured him.

He glanced back at Six. The blue Spartan was fiddling with the saftey on his DMR, probably staring out into space behind his visor. Emile sighed. "Well, after Six met back up with his friend, her squad was killed evacuating the city mayor. She got permission to join Noble Team, and we went along, everything was fine," Emile said.

"Why wouldn't he want us to hear that?"

"That's not what we kept secret. The three of us, Six, Ashley, and myself were on our wat to deliver you to the Autumn. She and Six got into a fight, and she stormed off alone. It was shortly before Six had to put you into his helmet when the case broke."

"What did they fight about?" Cortana asked. Chief had pretty much ignored the conversation, and kept scanning for any snipers.

"Something about escaping Reach together, but I was too busy fighting a pair of Hunters to-"

"Hey Emile! Guess what!" Six's voice cut in. "You were on an open channel, dumbass."

Emile looked at the comm icon on his HUD, and saw that Six was right. "Shit..." He turned to face him, but Six had started to walk in the opposite direction. "Where the hell are you going?"

"To find those Marines. Unless you want to go and tell them my personal information, too." Emile, Cortana and Chief watched as Six disapeared intothe distance.

Chief looked at Emile. "Does he always act like a teenage girl when he's mad?"

"Not always, but on occasion." The remaining group continued on toward the Cartographer.

Covenant Cruiser "Truth and Reconciliation"

Shipmaster Taal looked on as the bodies of several Sangheili were brought into the main hanger. The bodies were laid out one next to the other. Easily, there were fifty to sixty bodies. The bodies of Unggoy and Kig-Yar were simply piled into heaps. Taal sighed. The demons had managed to get thier leader back and inflict quite a few casulties.

He glanced up as a newly instated Major walked up to him. "What you have ordered has been done, Shipmaster. But, it's not something that the holy Forerunners would have wanted."

"But, it is what you get when you abandon my ship," Taal answered. "Have you been able to contact Sel'gath?"

"He's trying to make himself disappear, but we know exactly where he is. He is on the same island where the demons had been last seen. We were able to send the recording." Taal smiled. This would teach that traitor.

Six walked along the sandy beach, staring off toward the ocean. He could remember the day that he and Ashely had fought. He remembered dit like it was yesterday...

_Six pulled his combat knife out of the Elite Ultra he had stabbed, and saw the orange armored female Spartan taking on three Jackals. She fired her Assault Rifle at the opening in their sheilds, making quick work of them._

_The area was clear, ad Ashley B341 walked over to him. "I have to talk to you," she said, removing her Air Assualt helmet, revealing her dark red hair. "We can leave Reach now. If we take some Banshees, we could, get on one of the Covie's Cruisers, capture it, and get several Marines out of here."_

_"But what about the AI?" Six taking the case off his lower back and holding it up._

_"Emile can do it, he doesn't need anyone to help him."_

_"Well, I promised Halsey that I would get the AI to the Pillar of Autumn, and I intend to keep that promise."_

_"Hmph. You know, sometimes I think that you don't care about me._

_"Come on, Ashley. You know that's not true. You know I-"_

_"Just pick. Me, or the AI."_

_"I gave my word as a Spartan to Halsey. I will get that AI to the ship."_

_"Sorry that you chose wrong," Ashley said, as she put her helemt back on ,and walked into the distance._

Six shook himself out of the memory, and continued toward the Marines. He had been walking for about ten minutes, and saw three human figures in the distance. One was on their knees, another crouching next to it. The third noticed the Spartan in the distance and started walking to him. Six saw that it was the smae Marine that had helped him snipe.

"Is something wrong?" Tallert asked as he reached the Spartan.

"My teammate failed to keep his promise, so I came over here," Six responded. He saw the other two Marines next to each other, with the man's arm draped around the woman's shoulder. The woman was still crying over her dead brother.

Six opened his comm to Foehammer. "This is Serria-B312 requesting evac with some Marines at my location."

_"Copy, Echo 419 is on it's way," _she responded. Six looked over and noticed the eight new figures heading for them. "Elites," he said, and the Marines looked up. This wasn't going to end well.

"Incoming!" Chief rolled to the side, avoiding the Hunter's fuel rod. He aimed up at the platform, and fired his Assualt Rifle. The bullets hit the Jackal with the Beam Rifle that was aiming at the Spartans. It went down in an exlposion of purple blood.

Emile had gone up through a cave to the side while Chief distracted the Covenant from below. He brought up his rocker launcher and fired both rockets at the nearest Hunter. The explosions tore the heavy metal beast into two pieces, scattering orange worm like things around the platform. He swapped the rocket launcher for his shotgun, and charged at an Elite Major weilding dual plasma rifles. He ran up to the alien, smacked it in the face with the butt of his gun, and fired the shotgun into its face, leaving nothing but little tiny pieces of bloody skull.

Chief ran up a dirt ramp to the side of the exterior platform and opened fire on the second Hunter. The Assault Rifle had little effect, so he switched to his rocket launcher. He fired a rocket, which hit the Hunter square in the face, decapitating it. The second rocket blew up the two Jackals that were firing their Needlers at him.

"What?" Cortana said randomly in a confused voice. "That's not..., Chief look at what I could get from Six's file." A small copy of the file appeared on Chief's HUD, obscuring his view of an Elite Minor. "Now's not the time, Cortana!" he yelled.

"Sorry." Cortana took the document down, and Chief killed that last Elite. He and Emile regrouped and reloaded in silence.

"I wish Six hadn't ran off with our only sniper rifle. He seems to overly protective of those Marine," Emile said. "Every Spartan knows that Marines are just sniper bait."

"Well Emile, what I was about to show to Chief would explain why he protects the Marines," Cortana brought up part of Noble Six's file. One part was highlighted;

_Augmentations: SPARTAN B-312 was augmented as a test cross of SPARTAN III's and the prototype SPARTAN IV's, by the authority of the Office of Naval Intelligence. His III side is shown on the battlefield, while his IV side of teamwork shows when he protected all of his teammates in the training sessions..._

_**A/N: Kind of an interesting ending right there. Hell, I just make up some stuff as I go along. **_

_**There is one last chapter before the start of Assualt on The Control Room. Oh shit. That's going to be a tough bitch. If any can offer any assistance in any way, shape, or form, please let me know. I'm going to need all the help I can get.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	20. Chapter 20: Cartographer Finale

_Chapter Twenty : Cartographer-Part III_

Emile stared at the file on his HUD. "Cortana, I thought you said that you couldn't get into Six's file," he said as he propped his shotgun against the metal doorway. He grabbed two rockets out of a pouch on the side of his leg, and loaded them into the Rocket Launcher.

"Well that was then. Something happened. I don't understand." Cortana was starting to sound confused. _Great, _Emile thought, _The smartest one of us all sounds confused._

"What's a Spartan Four?" Chief asked. He seemed agitated that there was yet another Spartan generation that probably wasn't as good as his.

"ONI developed it make a Spartan generation that didn't require the use of children. They planned to use volunteer Marines so they could have a large supply rather than wait for children to grow. Fours don't have the augmentations that the Three's and Two's do, but they get to keep their humanity."

"So that means that Six is-"

"-More human than either of you combined," Cortana finished. "That would explain the reason he protects Marines." Cortana read some more of Six's file while Emile and Chief entered the building, weapons rasied. The corpse of the Covenant that they had killed before had been removed, but the blood stains were still there.

They reached the door where the Zealot had been, and the door was wide open. with no gold armored fanatic Elite charging at them.

"You'll like this," Cortana interrupted the silence. "It says that Six is prone to acts of extreme violence when angered. Or, no surprise, one of his team mates is dead or wounded. You know, socialpathic tendancies. He has the augmentations of a Three, but the humanity of a...well, human."

"When angered? Like the Hulk?" Emile asked.

"What is the Hulk?"

"Find anything out about his mental condiction?" Chief asked as he went to the right of the door. There was a platform that extended over a gaint abyss, and at the end, there were two small, recanglular objects. Chief nudged one into the abyss with his foot.

"Well, the file says that there is an 85% chance that the subject might have some hallucinations every now and then, and the more battle they see, the higher the odds get." Cortana puased. "It might work!"

"What might work?" Emile asked as he headed for the hall to the left of the door.

"Getting Six a date! Since he is more human, it might work!"

Emile rolled his eyes, and peeked around the corner. There was an Elite with its back to them, holding the equivilant of a datapad. Basically, it was a cylinader that projected a holo-screen. Emile motioned to Chief with his left hand, drawing his knife in the other.

Chief walked up silently, and Emile went in for the kill, his heavy metal boots making almost no sound as he stepped closer to the oblivious alien. He jumped on its back and used his right hand to hold its mandibles closed. He thrusted the knife up down into the Elite's skull, killing it instantly. The holo-pad-thingy fell to the floor, and Emile could see what the Elite was watching. Wow. One perverted Sangheili. Emile brought his foot down on the cylinader, crushing it. Of course, the stomp Emile did was loud enough to wake up the sleeping Covenant in the next room. Of course.

* * *

Getu looked down into the small canyon. He had landed his stolen Banshee on a circular canyon that surrounded a Forerunner structre. There had been two Mgalekgolo guarding it. Had been. All that was left was a few puddles of orange blood.

The lone Sangheili jumped into the crater, heading for the nearest weapon crate. They were all empty. There were a few human corpses up on a hill, but the Covenant discouraged any use of the humans "Pathetic weapons."

Still, he scavenged among the bodies and found a few pistols and extra clips. Getu held the tiny weapon in his hands, and attached it to his hip. Better than nothing. After a few more minutes of finding nothing, he headed back for his Banshee.

His personal holo-projecter emitted a beep, indicating that he had a message. "Piece of shit," he muttered in Sangheili as he check it. The device had been made to rival the humans form of it. It was a video message from Shipmaster Taal. Just out of curiosity, he played it.

_A Sangheili in green combat armor and holding a Carbine walked up to the door of the Sangheili civilian residence. He proceeded to kick the door down. A female screamed, and a Carbine shot was heard. The screaming stopped. Two more Sangheili entered, and exited dragging out the inhabitants._

Getu watched in horror as his three little sisters were kicked and smacked with the plasma weapons. His father came out, wielding a metal blade that looked just like and energy sword. He was shot down faster than you would have thought. Taal's voice, which was added later, played: "Sel'gath, your entire family will play for your heresy. This was all your fault! Hahahahaha!"

Getu played the video again, with the same horror-stricken look on his face. Taal had no authority to do that. He was manipluating his troops. And they had messed with the Sel'gath family, and they didn't take lightly to getting pushed around, or kidnapped. He roared out a blood curtling roar. Payback time. Getu knew that he could not take them all on alone, he would need someone willing to fight the Covenant. Who would want to do that? Getu looked off in the distance, and saw his answer. Now how to get them to agree...that was the hard part. The hardest part. It would be hard to convince a species that you are at war with to help you.

* * *

Six raised his DMR as the Elites advanced. The Elites stopped thirty feet from Six. They were standing around, letting the Major walk in front of them. "Run," Six ordered the Marines pointing in the direction that Foehammer was going to land. "There is a Pelican on the way." The Marines, slung their weapons over thier back, and took off the the direction Six had pointed in. One of the Elites, the leader, raised his Carbine and fired three shots. All of them went by Six's head, and the Spartan thought that the Elite had missed. He was wrong. The Carbine shots had hit their target, but Six wasn't it.

Then he heard the scream. It sounded like a human Marine getting shot by a Carbine. He jerked his head around, seeing the female Marine on the ground, holding her leg, smoke coming from under her fingers. The other Marines turned and began back toward her.

"Go! Leave her! Just go!" Six shouted as an Elite jumped on his back. The DMR flew out of Six's hands and he struggled to get the Elite off of him. He managed to elbow the Elite in the jaw, and crawl free of its grasp. He crawled on all fours toward his DMR, and just as he was about to reach out and grab it, an Elite tore the Sniper Rifle off of the Spartans back and threw it into the sand. It then growled something to the other Elites, and four of them took off toward the Marines.

Tallert Phillips and James Miller were extremely bad luck. They watched as Karrie started crawling toward them. "Here kid," Miller said, tossing Tallert his Assualt Rifle. "Keep me covered!" He dashed out of cover, and over to her.

"Come on, I'm getting you outta here," he said as he picked her up. he all the Elites were focused on the Spartan, and had him pinned to the ground. "I left them a present," Karrie said, and weakly held up a detonater. "Miller looked at it, and then at the ground that she had been laying on. Some of it had been moved, possibly to hide some C4. "I love you," he said in awe.

He was snapped back to reality when a plamsa bolt hit him in the shoulder. Karrie had passed out in his arms, and he took off toward Tallert, gritting his teeth at the burning pain. "Shit!" he dove behind a rock, and let himself rest for a second.

"We got four coming at us!" Tallert yelled, peering around the rock he was using as cover. Miller pried the detonater from Karrie's limp hand, and peek around the rock. Perfect. He smashed the button down.

Six pushed slowly pushed himself up, and staggered on his feet. The Elites had been beating him senseless, but they hadn't made any attempt to kill him yet. His shields were depleted, the bar flashing red on his HUD. He took an inventory of everything that he had, only one frag grenade. A plan started to formulate. All he would need is a distraction. Then the four Elites that had gone after the Marines exploded. The rest of the Elites turned and watched as their friends body parts got scattered around the beach.

Six took the opportunity. He pulled put his knife and swept his foot at the knee joints of the nearest Elites. It fell down roaring, and Six shut it up with a knife to the face. He stole the Carbine and aimed at the face the Elite Major. The Elites had turned around at the roaring of their teammate, and they returned fire. "This is it. Now or nothing," he muttered as he threw the las frag he had. The Elites scattered for cover, and Six fired the remaining eight shots in the Carbine on the Major. The red Elite's shielding gave way right as he ran out of shots. "Damn." He tossed the empty Carbine aside and drew his knife again.

The Major laughed. "Demon, you have no chance," it said in broken English. "We have you outnumbered, three to one."

There was the crack of a DMR, and then, "Now we have you out numbered, bitches!" The Marine, Miller, was holding Six's dropped DMR, and had shot the Major in the head before its shields could recharge. Tallert was crouching, holding the Sniper Rifle. There was a loud explosion as he fired, blowing one of the last two Elites' heads off. Six jumped on the last one, cutting its throat. He kicked the body to the ground, and sheathed his knife.

"Foehammer has arrived," said the pilot as the Pelican flew into view. Six sighed. Pilots only showed up when the danger you were evacing from was dead.

* * *

The two Spartans moved stealthily around the room. There was a sleep Grunt squad, and with the right tactics, you could take them out without the even knowing. Emile cut the throat of the first one, while Chief clmaped ones mouth shut and snapped its neck. Emile stabbed his knife into the face of the third, and Chief gently shook the last Grunt. It woke up, and it took a minute to register the fist coming at its face. Chief's punch shattered the poor Unggoy's face. The Spartans nodded at each other.

A random Grunt came running through the room, ad Emile fired, blowing its arm off. Emile stepped in the blue blood of the Grunt that was missing its left arm. The barrels on his shotgun were still smoking. He loaded in twelve new shells, leaving him with only two more shells.

He raised his shotgun as he walked around corners and into other rooms, making sure the area was every Covenant that had been in the room was deadified. "All clear," he told Chief. Chief nodded and the two of them went in search of the Cartographer. Emile heard something heavy hit the floor, and the sound of a Spartan's shields braking. He darted into the room the sound had come from. "Oh shit."

"I'm okay," Six said as he pushed himself up from the ground. "There's a hole there." He pointed at the walkway that Emile and Chief had walked down to get into there. The walkway was a narrow one, right next to the drop down. "The Pelican is waiting outside. Did you find the thingy?"

Emile shook his head. "Cortana said that it should be on this floor."

Six walked through a random door, down a hall with overly decorated walls, and into a wide room. "I think I found it!" he yelled. Emile and Chief entered the room. "That has to be it," Cortana said. Six pressed a random button...and the lights went out.

Chief sighed and activated the flashlight on his Assualt Rifle. He pressed the glyph button that Six had pressed, and the lights came back on. He pressed another button, and the hologram of the ring that was floating behind the controls broke into pieces. "It should be...there," Cortana said after a minute, marking a piece of the ring on their HUDs.

"Chief! This is Foehammer! They sent reinforcements! I had to pull out!"

"Shit," Six said. Understatement.

"Do you have any weapons?" Chief asked Six. Six face-palmed his helmet and shook his head. "Here." Chief handed Six his pistol, who pulled the slide back and heard a satisfying click.

Emile took point, and they alomst immediantly ran into trouble as they exited the fancy hallway. An Elite Minor ambushed from the ramp up on the right. Six fired three shots into its head when Emile blew it in half with a single shot.

They met very little resistance when they reached the room that Chief and Emile had first entered. Emile smiled as he stepped on the Elite's holo-pad. "I think we're almost home-free," Six said. "Just through that door, up two ramps, and out the door and we're safe!"

Well, the universe has this thing called irony. Whenever someone ever says someting like that, the universe will make them its bitch.

An Elite in gold armor ran around the corner, sword blazing. It had two Carbines across its back, forming that 'x.' Six and Emile recognized it.

It swung it sword at Six, who ducked and fired into its torso. Only having a pistol, this did little more than piss it off. Emile took aim at it, but it lunged at him before he could line up the shot. In desperation, he fired anyway, some hitting the Zealot, others hitting the wall. Six pulled his knife and jumped on the Zealots back, trying to stab it in the throat. The Elite shook him off and threw him against the wall. Six's previous injurys forced him to stay down. The Zealot raised its sword, swung down and...a green armored hand caught the aliens wrist. It tried to punch Chief with its free hand, but the Spartan caught that wirst also, hold them with a steel grip. "Emile," said Chief. "Finish him."

The elite had a look of pure fear in its eyes as the first shotgun blast tore away its shields. The second blast tore throught it, splattering it intestines on the wall ,and a ton of blood on Six and Chief.

Six weakly stood up, and Cortana was concerned. "Are you okay, Six? Your vitals aren't normal."

"I just got bullied by some split-chins. I'm fine," Six answered as he picked up the dead Zealots Carbines. He put one on his back, and he carried the other.

The Spartans headed out the door and up the ramps, then they were in the first room, and they could see daylight. The moment was cut short, because they were soon attacked by Elites in active camo.

"Frag out," Emile said as he tossed a frag. The explosion completely drained the shields of one Elite, the blue plasma energy around it making it easy to shoot. And kill with a single Carbine shot to the head.

The other jumped out from behind one of the walls, and opened fire on the Spartans with its Plasma Repeater. Of course, the Spartans swamped it with fire from thier weapons, killing it faster.

"Hop aboard," Foehammer said as the Pelican touched down on the platform outside. The "Thank God," Emile said, running and hopping the troop hatch. He saw the Marines, two of them wounded, and the other tending to them. Chief and Six jumped in the back, and the Pelican started moving. Safe.

* * *

_**A/N: After reading the reponses to the message, it was apparent that people were okay that Six was a III/IV cross. Just wanted to make sure that I didn't do something I would regret.**_

_**To the reviewers: **__BenFBS, J.E.P 1996, Stallion6 of Deviantart, DeadlyDragon12, Cubed ice, Logan __**and whoever **__Guest __**was, thank you for your opinion, it helped alot.**_

_J.E.P 1996 __**: I admit that Noble Six being a cross of a II and a III might be better, it wouldn't explain why Six was so human. He would almost be like Chief.**_

_Cubed ice __**: Nice to have you back! Getting ignored can be tough, but I'm getting over it.**_

_**This story got its 10,000 view on Friday! I couldn't hav done it with out all of you guys (and possibly gals) support. Thanks!**_

_**Well, review, favorite, follow, and tell all your friends about this story!**_

_**Peace out!**_


	21. Chapter 21: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY READERS

_Chapter Twenty-One : No Rest for the Weary_

_**A/N: The real Chapter Twenty is up now, in case you missed it. And Happy Valentines day! I hope you spent it with your loved ones, and I hope you got a lot of candy! Because I didn't get any. It was a normal day for me. Part One of this Chapter just for the occasion. Then we go back to non-multipart chapters.**_

A lone Grunt walked along, while his comrades slept. He sniffed the air, and smelled something...something human... He turned his head an saw the human dropship rise into view. The took off running, waking up the rest of the Grunts, and alerting the Elites.

"This is as far as I can go," Foehammer said, as she swerved the Pelican so the back hatch would be above the platform. As the ship lowered, Chief jumped out, pulling his Assualt Rifle off his back. Emile jumped right after Chief, and hit the ground with his shotgun in hand. Six picked his DMR and Sniper Rifle off the Pelican's floor, and jumped out. When he hit the ground, his knees buckled underneath him, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Six? You okay?" Cortana asked, and when he didn't answer, she called Chief. "Six is down!"

Chief was about to turn to Six, when he noticed the three Elite Minors coming out of the door the Grunts fled from. "Emile, get Six," he ordered, firing his Assualt Rifle at the Elites.

Six pushed himself up weakly, and stumbled a bit. _Those Elites that beat me up must have given me a concussion, _he thought, as he rasied his DMR. The first five shots went into a Minor's head, draining its shields and killing it with a headshot.

Emile ran up to him, picking up the Sniper Rifle, "What happened?"

"I fell," Six responded with a nonchalant tone.

"Six, your vitals still seem off. You're sure you're okay?" Cortana asked, joining the conversation.

Six nodded, and pulled the Sniper from Emile. He aimed down the scope, straight at an Elite's head, and fired. He did not miss. The Elites, head blew up in a magnificent bloody mess, scattering brain pieces and skull bits around.

Chief sprayed the last Minor down with automatic fire, killing the thing after a few seconds of unstopped shooting and a full clip. "This looks like the only way to go," he said as he walked through a door that the Grunts into. Of course, the methane suckers were cowering right behind the door, and Chief dispatched them with a few well placed headshots.

Six followed behind Emile, holding his smoking Sniper Rifle. The trio continued down the hallway and into a room that had an outer path and an inner room. Oh, yeah, there was a few Grunts, Elites, and Jackals in there, too.

Chief put a finger to his mouth part of his helmet, asking for complete silence. Six and Emile nodded, and Chief snuck out into the outer part. His feet made no sound as he snuck up behind a completelt obilivous Elite, and stabbed it in the back with his knife, severing the spinal chord. If it lived through the stab, then it would die a slow and painful death. Chief lowered the body to the ground, and signaled for the the other Spartans to follow.

Six placed the Sniper Rifle across his back, and grabbed his knife, still stained with the blood of the eariler Elites. Emile did the same with his shotgun, and the three were crouch-walking, which is hard even for a Spartan. Then they ran into the Jackals, who were staring right at them.

"Well, we've been made," Emile said, and grabbed his shotgun, while Chief punced the first one, and the second took off running. It yelled something, but was quickly silenced by the DMR bullet that ws embedded into its throat.

That alerted every Covie in the room. "Run!" Chief shouted as he turned and fired on the flanking Elite Minor. Six and Emile darted off, around the outer path, and found a door that opened when they got near it. Motion sensing. Of course, there was three Elites behind the door, of course.

"Bitch!" Emile yelled as his shotgun tore the front half off of the first Elite. Seeing your friend get cut down within the first five seconds of their combat career does not do much for the morale. The two remaining Elites backed away while firing their Plasma Rifles. Six took out his Sniper Rifle and no-scoped the Elite on the left, turning its head into a bloody stump, and Emile charged at the other fired again, clipping the last Elites torso, while Emile fired the shotgun to the face.

Chief had finished the last of the Covies in the room, and joined the Spartans. "I guess that this is the only way to go," he said, looking down the hallway. The three followed it and came to a long bridge that connected two canyon walls. They saw for the first time since they were on the bigass ring, snow. The cold white snow fell to the ground, and apparently, if it got on sleeping Grunts, they didn't notice.

Chief pulled his kife out once more, and went for one of the sleeping dipshits. Six and Emile did the same, and the three of the killed one Grunt, leaving only one, which Chief stabbed in the face.

"The weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. It's amlost like the ring's desingers wanted it to have inclement weather," Cortana commented.

"Yeah, so?" Emile asked. A Pelican flew over head. "This is fireteam Zulu to any UNSC forces."

"I didn't think there were any human forces left on this part of the ring," Cortana said. "Fireteam Zulu this is Cortana. Hold your position, we're on our way."

Emile counted his shells; five left. He sighed, and a particle beam shot next to his head, and the three Spartans took cover behind whatever they could find. Fortuantly, there was a wall thing in the middle of the bridge that gave good cover.

"Emile, you take left, I'll take right. Six, find that sniper and snipe him," Chief ordered as he loaded a new clip into his Assault Rifle. Six nodded, and then Chief and Emile took off to each side, shooting any Covies that they saw. Another beam nearly hit Emile, and Six traced it back to the sniper. He put the Jackal's head into the crosshairs and fired. Boom, headshot.

The celebration was short-lived. Six lowered the DMR, and watched as Emile blew half of an Elite away. Emile put his shotgun on his back, and grabbed a Plamsa Rifle. He ran out of shells. Six turned, and felt a hand grab him by the neck. An Elite hand.

It lifted him up violently, and Six lost his grip on the DMR, letting it fall to the ground. "Hey split-chin." Six went for his knife, and the Elite Major smashed him into the ground. "Shit!" Six screamed as the knife now flew out of his hand. The Major carried Six over the edge of the bridge, held the blue Spartan over the long drop. It released its grip.

"Six!" Emile yelled as he saw his friend hit the ground, easily a two hundred foot drop. The Major turned to him, and flicked it wrist, revealing its Energy Sword. Emile threw the hijacked Plasma Rifle into the Majors face. It hit it in the head, and Emile was on it with ihs knife, stabbing it in the head as many times as he could.

Chief looked over the edge of the bridge, and saw Six's form laying in the snow. "Cortana, check his vitals."

"Chief." Cortana's voice sounded weak. "They flat-lined. He's gone."

Emile overheard, and look down toward his team mate.

Spartan III / IV B312 was dead.

_**A/N: Bet you never saw that coming. I admit, this was an interesting chapter to write. I'll probably get a ton of hate mail.**_

_**What an unfortunate event. And it just so happens to fall on Valentines Day. I hope I didn't ruin it for you.**_


	22. Chapter 22: And Yet He Lives On

_Chapter Twenty-Two : But Yet He Lives On..._

_A serene forest. There are two teens, one male, one female, and they are dressed in UNSC casual fatigues. The male is shirtless, exposing his freakishly well-mucled body. He and the female are sitting on the ground, hand-in-hand, looking up at the sky._

_"So, tomorrow's the day," the female said._

_"Yeah. We'll be augmented, and sent out into the war. Are you scared?" the male asked, shifting his focus to the future. He was going right into the hell of the Human-Covenant War, and the humans were getting their butts kicked._

_"Yeah, a little. Can you promise me one thing?" The female asked as she loosened her grip on his hand and stared him in the eyes._

_"You name it."_

_"Once this is all over, the war and everything, that you had kept yourself alive long enough that we could be together again."_

_"I promise, Ashley."_

* * *

Pain. All he could feel was the pain. He opened his eyes, seeing the snow that had fallen onto his visor and helmet. He groaned at the pain in his back of his head. He removed his helmet, checking it for any damage. The back was dented, and the vital readers were offline. He haad landed on an ice cold rock. Great. Standing up, he put it back on, and saw that most of the HUD was online. He then noticed the Elites firing toward a flipped Warthog. There was a Wraith floating above a patch of ice.

He searched the ground for any of his weapons, but there were none any where around him. He knees buckled beneath him, and he collasped into the cold snow. All he wanted to do was die.

But, he had made a promise.

He pushed himself up once more, and staggered over to the left, and the radio came to life.

_"This is Spartan A239. Attempting to confirm that Spartan B312 is KIA. Any UNSC forces please respond."_

So, they thought he was dead. Hardly. He regained his balance, and rushed at the nearest Elite, which had its back to him. He tackled the obilivous alien, and punched it in the back of the neck. It fell down into the snow, dead from the force of impact. He stole the Concussion Rifle that it was using, and opened fire on the other two.

At first, the Elites thought that their friend was attacking them. But, when they turned around, one recieved a snowball to the face, blinding it for a short time. It flailed its hands at its face, and when it could see again, it saw his only other team mate dead on the ground, with its chest melted. The living one turned its head, and took a hot bolt of concussion plasma to the face, its shields barely held. It attempted to fire in return. But the second shot of plasma finished it off.

Six looked at the corpses, and smiled in satifisfaction. It was good to live to fight another day. It would take more than three Elites and a Wraith. Wait, Wraith? Six looked over, and saw that the Wraith hadn't noticed him. The turrenter had, though. It opened fire, which caused the driver to look at him. _Well, _Six thought, _This went to hell fast. _

A rocket flew out from behind the flipped Warthog, and struck the Wraith right smack in the Plasma Mortar. The mortar launcher exploded, but it wasn't enough to destroy the tank. It boosted toward Six, but the Spartan dodged to the side. The only operational gun the tank had, which was the secondary one was firing. Six fired the Concussion Rifle, only able to get off three shots before it ran empty.

He charged at the Wraith, and jumped onto it. The gunner kept firing, draining half of Six's shields until its face was smashed in by the Spartan's fist. He driver opened the hatch, and climbed out with a Plasma Rifle aimed at Six. The Spartan kicked it out of the drivers grasp, and kicked the Elite in the face. Six twisted the neck at an odd angle, braking it. He took the plasma grenades off the hip of the dead driver and threw them into the open hatch. He jumped off into the snow and half-crawled, half-ran to cover.

The tank erupted in blue flames, shaking the ground around Six. The heat caused most of the snow in the surrounding areas to melt into a slush. He stood up, and walked over to the Warthog that was on its side. five Marines had come out of cover, and watched the Spartans approach.

The snow around Six's feet crunched with each step, and sloshed when he walked through the slush. The Marine's medic rushed out to him, and Six promptly fell face-first into the snow. That happens after fall two hundred feet and hitting your head.

"Give me a hand," the medic yelled as he tried to drag the Spartan behind the Warthog. Three others joined him, and they managed to move Six about three inches. "The Warthog has a cable we can use," he said, pointing at the Hog.

"Yeah, but we got to flip it first," said the Marine that strained as he pulled Six by the Spartans wrists.

"Well, flippin' it would be easier than draggin' a Spartan twenty feet," The medic retorted, and began to pull on the gun of the Hog in a futile attempt to flip it. He gritted his teeth and pulled as hard as he could, but the machine gun was stuck in the snow.

The medic flopped to the ground out of exhasution, and the Warthog flipped over. Holding the fornt half was a green Spartan, and the bakc was held by a gray Spartan. "Another Spartan," the medic commented as he brushed off the snow that had fallen on his face. "We're in luck."

The gray Spartan ran over to him and picked him up. "What other Spartan? Was it the one who fell?"

"Yeah. He blew up that Wraith, but he's in a pretty bad condiction. He passed out and in the snow," the medic pointed at the disturbed patch of snow where some of the other Marines were crouching.

Emile dropped the medic back into the snow, and dashed over. Chief walked over to them, his Assualt Rifle lowered in his hands.

Snow had piled up on Six'x armor again, and the Marines helped Emile get the snow off of the blue Spartan. "Six!" Emile shouted. "Can you hear me? Say something!"

"Something," Six weakly responded. Emile sighed with relief, and stood back up.

"Chief," Cortana said. "I'm still not picking up his vitals."

Six weakly took his helmet off and handed it to Chief, and then dropped his head back into the snow.

Chief looked at the back. "Well, that explains it," Cortana observed the dented back part, the part that transmitted the vitals. It was broken and wasn't transmitting the vitals, so all the rest of the team got were the flat-lines.

Chief tossed the helmet back to Six, and walked over to the Warthog. He climbed in the driver's seat, and started it up. "Emile you get gun. Six, you get in the passenger seat. There's some medical supplies in here if you need them," The green Spartan ordered.

"Aw, I wanted to take a nap," Six complained as he pushed himself out of the snow, and staggered over to the Hog. Chief held his hand out to him from the driver's seat, and pulled Six into the vehicle. Six instantly opened the Warthog's medical boxs and began pouring thorugh the contents.

Cortana was relieved that Six had made it. She was aslo pissed at herself for not considering the chance that the vital transmitter thing had been broken. But, Six was alive and that was all that mattered. It was a close call, but yet he lives on.

_**A/N: And surprise! Six is alive. I would't kill him off that fast. **_

_**Well, twenty two chapters down, about three hundred, by my estimates, to go. This will be one long challenge.**_

_**I would like to have a beta reader for this story. So, if interested, PM me.**_

_**To the readers of Move On, My Spartan; There is currently a poll on my profile so people can voice their opinion on whether I should add Six from this story into that one, mainly because, I don't know. Stop by the poll and cast your vote.**_

_**Review if you will, because nothing can describe that rush of energy you feel when you get a new review.**_

_**Peace Out!**_


	23. Chapter 23: Tank Beats Everything

_Chapter Twenty-Three; Tank Beats Everything_

Emile tighted his grip on the gun's grips as the Warthog slid on the ice. Of course, given the Spartan's history with Warthogs, he wasn't expecting the ride to go well.

The vehicle slid past the burning wreakage of the Wraith, and into a snowbank. Emile sighed as he jumped out of the gun, and helped Chief push it out. Six was still pretty weak from the fall, and then using all his energy right afterwards. So he stood by and watched as Chief and Emile began to clear the snow away.

"So," Six said to Cortana, "We went from a nice warm island, to an artic hell hole."

"Pretty much," the AI resonded. "I still haven't quite figured this ring out yet. The creators must have been an impressive species. I hope I can get to learn more about them."

"Wait, would actually learn about them, or would someone have to input the information?"

"Well, I am smart AI, what do you think?"

Chief and Emile finally had gotten the Hog free, and the Spartans resumed the postions. Chief floored the gas pedal, and they tore across the icy patch, sliding to the left. After a few minutes of driving, they were off the ice. They took a turn around a canyon wall, and came across several Marines engaged in a firefight. Emile instantly jumped from the turrent, and Six bailed out of the side.

"What was that for?" Cortana asked. Emile held up three fingers. He counted down three seconds with them, and then pointed at the Warthog. As he pointed, two blue balls of death stuck to the front, and Chief jumped out and dove into the snow.

The vehicle blew up as Six struggled to stand up. For some reason, he seemed to be getting pretty weak. Emile and Chief were holding up pretty good. His vision blurred as he crumpled to the ground, letting the gentle snowfall cover him. The cracks of gunfire echoed in his ears, and he felt himslf getting pulled up and dragged. He was set down next to a crashed Pelican, and stood up once more. As far as he could tell, the Marines and Chief and Emile were getting beaten back, and there was a Scorpion Tank behind enemy lines.

Glancing around for any weapons, he found only two frag grenades. The Covenant are too smart not to dodge grenades, but perhaps...

The Elite opened up with his Plasma Rifle, causing the humans he was shooting at to dive behind a rock. A white ball fell from the sky and landed next to his feet. "Pathetic humans," the Minor muttered as it kicked the snowball. The snow crumbled away to reveal a green-gray sphereical object.

Six chuckled as the stupid Elite blew into pieces, and almost instantly, three more Elites came in its place. He noted the location of the Scorpion, which was right up next to a cliff. A plan began to form.

* * *

_Those Spartans that flew in with us are probably having a better time then we are, _Tallert thought as the Peilcan shook with another explosion. His comerades were still out from their injuries, and they were being tailed by Banshees.

"Hey, kid," Foehammer called out from the front. "Why don't you take them out. Theres a turrent built in." A turrent desended from the roof of the Pelican, attached to a metal arm, and Tallert hesistantly took the handles. "Opening the hatch." The door slowly opened, and Tallert pulled back on the triggers, opening fire.

The first round of bullets went all over the place, since Tallert wasn't used to heavy machine guns. His hands slipped off the handles, and Tallert let out a long stream of profanity as he got the handles once more. The second burst of bullets hit the Banshee on the left, making it smoke, and then a third round blew it into blue flames.

"Take this, hingeheads!" Tallert shouted as he let loose the fourth round of fire. This time, it was flawless. Every shot hit the closest Banshee, and exploded in a brilliant blue-purple fire. Tallert swerved the gun at the last Banshee, and let the bullets fly. All two of them. "What the hell? Foehammer, the gun stopped working!"

"What, did you think that it had a bottomless clip? Just put another drum in."

Tallert searched around, but saw no drums of ammo. The last Banshee fired at the opened hatch, a plasma bolt barely missed Tallert. It scorched his shoulder though. "Shit, that was close," he muttered as he continued to search. Finally, he looked up. In a compartment in the roof, next to the turrent compartment, were three drums of ammo. He took one down, and plled swapped it with the empty one. The empty drum went sailing into the Banshee, which did no damage.

The automatic fire lit up the Banshee, and the smoking aircraft went right down into the ocean they were sailing above. Tallert ran his hand through his hair with a sigh of relief. He put the gun up into the roof, and plopped down in the seat closest to the open hatch.

"Arriving at base in five minutes. We thank you for flying with...Holy shit!"

"Flying with holy shit. Can't people come up with better names?" Tallert asked, being a smartass.

"Get up here and look, smartass," Foehammer shot back.

Tallert stood up and waled to the pilot's seat. In the distance, he could see the plateau, but there were several pillars of thick black smoke, rising up into the sky. "What happened?" he asked dumbly.

"Hell, you're guess is as good as mine," Foehammer answered. The Pelican slowly drifted on to the plateau. The Scorpions were all in flames, as were the Warthogs and other Pelicans. Dead Marines everywhere. "Hey, where did that piece of shit Grunt go?"

Tallert shrugged, and sighed. This was the only base they had had, and now it was gone. Everyone here was now dead. All except the Marine that came crawling out from under a tank.

"Spare some food?" The Marine asked, her leg had been burned by plasma, and her face was covered in soot. Her helmet was half-melted on one side, apparently after taking a direct hit from a plasma weapon.

Pulling out an MRE, Tallert reached for any medical supplies that he had. Just an almost empty can of biofoam was all he had. "This might sting a bit," Tallert warned the Marine. She bit down on the MRE right as the biofoam was applied.

She screamed in pain as the biofoam poured out into the wound, sealing it until better medical attention was available. When the pain died down, she sat up and looked at Tallert. "This will only hurt a bit," she said as she punched him in the nose.

"Damn!" Tallert fell to the ground, blood leaking from his nose. "What was that for?"

She smiled and said, "You said it would only sting a little, which it didn't."

Tallert stod back up and dusted himself off. "Bitch." He held out his hand to help her up. She took it and yanked him down to the ground again.

"Hey, if you two can stop fighting, we can find a new base," James Miller said from the open back hatch of the Pelican. "Foehammer can find more survivors, and we might regroup with Keyes and that weapon."

The wounded Marine pushed herself up, writhing in pain when she tried to walk. James jumped out of the Pelican and went over to help her. She put her arm around him, and he helped her limp back to the ship.

_Great, _Tallert thought. _The only two girls we have have the hots for that asshole._

* * *

Emile stood strong, watching as the Elite Minor came charging at him with an Energy Sword. The Elite was probably so amped up that it got to use a sword, that it forgot that it was facing a demon.

Emile fired as the Elite got close enough, tearing through the alien's shields. The second shot took its head off. "Idiot," Emile muttered as he kicked the dead creature's body. Then, he noticed the ammo counter on his HUD. It read that he had zero shells left. "Damn." He picked up the dropped Energy Sword, and flicked his wrist, activating the dual plasma blades.

An Elite Major jumped out from behind a rock and toward Emile. Emile rasied the sword, and brought it down when the Elite got in range. A plasma grenade hit the ground three feet away, so the Spartan dove as far as he could. The blue ball detonated, melting the snow in a circular pattern.

"Hey, Emile!" Cortana practically shouted in his ear. "Six is up to something stupid again. I when I mean, up, it's literal."

Looking toward the waypoint that Cortana had just put up, Emile glanced at the cliff. He could see Six about fifty feet up, climbing toward the left, where the tank was. He groaned. Not again. Well, might as well as give some cover fire. "Hey, where's Chief?"

Chief jumped off of the snow bank, and onto the nearby Elite. The green Spartan had two Assault Rifles, on in each hand, and emptied both clips into the Elites face. Overkill, but whatever floats your boat.

Ten Elite Ultras ran out from a cave, Fuel Rod Cannons on thier shoulders. The first round of the green death plasma blobs killed three remaining Marines, as well as finished off the wrecked Warthog. Every remaining human ran for cover. This was going to hurt.

"We have no chance against them. If we all go out into the open, even with Spartans..." The Marine speaking looked away sadly. "Only God can save us now."

Six slowly progressed across the thin, icy ledge that was holding him up. He glanced down. Only about ten feet to the tank. Then he noticed the ten Elites, firing away with the heavy plasma weapons. He jumped down, landing feet first into the snow.

Noble Six jumped onto the tank, crawling for the controls. He eased him self into the driver's seat, and took control of the Scorpion. He turned the gun, and fired.

A loud explosion sounded, followed by the cries of dying Elites. Emile and Chief poked their helmeted heads out of cover, and saw the Scorpion tank's heavy cannon aimed at the Ultras. Three were left standing, and they were obiviously reconsidering their options.

The machine gun on the side of the tanks main cannon fired, mowing down one Ultra while it and its friends ran back to the cave. Four Sniper Rifle shots fired, and the two Ultras fell dead. The Marine, a Sargeant from the emblem on his helmet, tossed away the empty clip. He pulled out a cigar, put it in his mouth, and lit it. "That's how you do it, green horns."

"Gee, Johnson, you only killed two. That tank did the most damage," another Sargeant spat.

"Please, Keels, like yopu could have done better," Johnson retorted.

Chief rolled his eyes at the bickering Marines, and headed for the Scorpion. Emile followed, and then all the Marines followed. All five of them.

Six was still trying to figure out hoow to drive the tank. He had the gun mastered, but driving it was different. "There are six pedals, and only four directions," Six muttered to himself, looking down at the pedals. "The UNSC just screwed logic when they made this, didn't they?"

He glanced out of the canopy window, and saw three Marines placing a portable machine gun on the main body of the tank. Two other Marines got on the jumpseats to the left, and Emile got on the right back one.

There was a knocking on the top of the canopy, and Six opened it. "My tank. Get out," Chief ordered.

"Make me." Six slammed the canopy shut, and hit the lock feature. He pushed the first pedal he could find. The tank lurched forward, and Six pushed another. The tank began to turn left, and Six headed for the tunnel.

Outside, on the front right jumpseat, Chief was sitting with his armored hands tightly gripping an Assault Rifle. "When are we going to tell him?" Cortana asked through a private channel.

"About what?"

"The fact that he's a test cross of a new generation of Spartans."

"How about...never?"

"Okay, tomorrow it is."

* * *

_**No author's note this time.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	24. Chapter 24: Playing in the Snow

_Chapter Twenty-Four : Playing in the Snow_

_He pulled as hard as he could, but his wrist was strapped down tight to the table. The teen was in a panic, as his large muscles could not break through the metal that was restraining him. He looked around the room, taking in the several omnious machines and the people in weird suits; scientists. One of them pushed a few buttons on a datapad, and the machines came to life. There were strange devices on the end, apparently going to inject something into his body._

_"Wait. This is the special one." The teen noted the man in a black suit walk in. On the suit, there was an insignia, one that had a pyramid with a circle in the middle. The man flashed some sort of card, and a machine next to the door scanned his eye. It flashed green, and the man continued; "This is one of the ten canidates selected to be a test dummy. This is what he gets." He handed the men another datapad, and left the room. The teen watched as the scientists reconfigured the machines and put different drugs into them._

_"Don't worry kid," one scientist said. "This won't hurt a bit." That was a complete lie..._

* * *

"One, two, three, push!" The Marines grunted as they tried to push the tank. Six had managed to get the Scorpion's left treads stuck in between two rocks. Johnson watched as his troops pathetically tried to free the vehicle. "Put your backs into it, ladies!" He yelled at them.

Chief, Emile, and Six watched at the hopeless attempt. Cheif silently walked over, put his hands on the tank's treads, and pushed. He single handedly pushed it free. Johnson smiled. "That's how you do it," he told his troops. The Marines cursed their sargeant under their breath, and resumed their positions on the tank. Two were laying on their chests, manning the machine gun. The other simply crouched behind them, DMR acting as a spotter and a sniper.

"What's wrong?" Cortana asked Six. He was staring off into space behind his visor, completely despondant. "Six?"

He snapped back into reality. "What?" Six asked curtly.

"Well, for one thing, you got the tank stuck, and second, I've caught you staring off into space several times in the past couple of days," Cortana replied.

"Do you really want to know?" Six asked. He was hoping she didn't.

"Yes. Yes I do."

Six took a deep breath, and released it, planning out what he was going to say. "It all started after I got stabbed. It might just be the near-death experience, but I've been having flashbacks recently."

Cortana was intrigued. She opened a mental notebook to take notes. "Tell me more. I might be able to help you."

Six squatted down and picked up a Covenant Carbine half-buried in the snow. "They're mostly about when I was in training, and pre-augmentations."

Cortana mentally wrote that down. "Go into as much detail as possile please. Sometimes it's the tiny details that most people leave out that are the most important."

Six scoffed at that. "What, did you major in psychology or something?"

"Give me a minute." Cortana accessed her stored databases, and went for a Psychology for Dummies book. Three seconds later, she had all the information that was inside. She knew at least half of it. "There. Done."

Six was crouching, brushing the snow away from an Elite's corpse. He collected all the Carbine ammo that was on it, and stashed them in his hip-pouch. "For starters, they've mostly been about augmentations. Some about me, and some have been about...her."

"Ashley-B341, right?" Cortana asked as she continued to write this down.

Six kicked the corpse, and walked over to a dead Grunt, stealing the Needler from its cold, dead hands. "Yeah," Six admitted as he watched the weapon register on his HUD, showing the ammo count. "But that's behind me now. She's gone, and all I have left is to focus on the future. No point hiding in the past."

Cortana closed her mental notebook. "Is that how you really feel? Are you ready to move on? I don't think you are."

Six exploded. "Why do you have to keep interrogating me? Can't you go bother Chief or someone else? Make Emile hate himself!"

Cortana left him alone. What she had concluded from the chat was quite interesting. She hypothesized that Six had several emotions and feelings that had been bottled up for years. When done just right, they would expose themselves, and make Six look like a child in the process.

She continued to observe in silence from Six's helmet. Cortana saw in first person as Six picked up a second Needler, took all the needles out, and flung it as hard as he could. It it the cave wall and smashed some of the ice.

Emile watched as the Covenant weapon fell to the ground. He rested his MA5 Assault Rifle over his shoulder and walked back to the tank. The sargeants were giving it a quick look-over making sure that the treads were still in working condition.

"All right! Let's move out! Double time! we ain't got all day!" Johnson ordered. Emile climbed up onto one of the jumpseats and pulled back the slide on the weapon. It made a satisfying click.

Chief jumped down into the driver's seat and took control. It was pretty straight forward. One pedal for reverse, one for nuetral, and four to turn the tank. Six slowly climbed up to the front right jumpseat, and aimed his Carbine at the opening of the cave ahead of them. Then Six placed his weapon beside him, took off his helmet, and rubbed his eyes. As far as Chief could tell, Six was tired. But then again, he was more human than the other Spartans here.

Six was staring at his reflection in his visor as the tank started to move. He put his helmet back on, and picked up the Carbine. "Here we go!" Johnson yelled as the tank exited the cave. Sunlight shone off the snow and blinded Six, before his visor polarized to protect his eyes. There was a Wraith being supported by three Ghosts, backed up by stationary cannons, and infantry.

The Wraith fired a mortar at them, and as it arched, Six fired at the gunner. The Carbine shots were able to hit the target, but it wasn't enough to kill him. The Scorpion's main cannon blasted the Wraith's plasma launcher, rendering the vehicle next to useless. The Marines' heavy machine gun was lighting up the infantry, wiping out almost two squads instantly.

The Ghosts boosted over and fired at the treads. The tank's cannon lowered to aim at one, but the purple recon craft simply boosted to cover. Emile took the opportunity that had come when a Ghost had gotten to close. He jumped on to the driving Elite, and dragged it into the snow. He pulled out his knife and stabbed the hingehead, well, in its hinged head. Emile took control of the Ghost, splattering several fleeing Grunts.

A stationary gun fired at Emile, who managed to dodge the three bolts of plasma it shot at him. The sharp crack of an Sniper Rifle sounded off, and the Grunt in the turrent fell out and landed in the snow, surrounded by a blue pool of blood.

Plasma and bullets criss-crossed across the snow, hitting targets or missing them. Six was standing upright on his jumpseat, and fired a shot of the Carbine. It traveled through the head of a Jackal, killing it. "That's what you get when piss me off."

The tank was moving full speed ahead to a snow-ramp that led down into another non-natural cave. Emile was close behind, shooting at the Ghosts that got to close. A second Wraith was on the ledge above the cave door, and it let loose a blob of blue plasma. "Emile! Watch out!" Cortana cried as the mortar hit the ground, creating a huge hole in the ground, melting surrounding snow.

Emile's Ghost was close to the blast, and was sent up in the air. "Shit!" Emile yelled out as he fell out of the vehicle, and landed one the ground. He wasn't hurt as far as he could tell, and he reached for his Assault Rifle, wishing that he hadn't used all the ammo for his shotgun. Plasma bolts flew by his head, and he fired his Assualt Rifle from his hip with his left hand, right hand going for his knife. He sprinted at the offending Elites. The shields one the the first Elite flickered as the bullets connected. It roared as it rolled away, leaving his buddy to do all the fighting.

The second Elite charged at Emile, its mandibles wide open, emitting a loud gargling sound. It swung its Plasma Repeater down at Emile, who dropped his Assault Rifle, and punched the alien in the torso, making it roar out in pain. Emile brought his knife up into the Elites neck, breaking the shields and killing it. The dead body collasped to the ground, and the quick falling snow started to cover it. If it wasn't dead, it would die a slow, painfull, cold death. "Serves them right," Emile muttered as he kicked the body.

He heard the loud snap of a Sniper Rifle behind him, followed by the sound of a body hitting the snow. Emile turned around, and saw the other Elite bleeding out on the snow, purple blood pouring out from a wound in its chest. "Hey, I got your back," Johnson said as he walked over to the still squirming Elite. With a swift kick to the head, the Elite stopped struggling. "You're welcome," the Marine Sargeant. Emile nodded and the two walked in silence back to the tank.

* * *

"It's right there!" Cortana shouted fustratedly.

"The cannon can't aim that high up," Chief reminded her. They had been trying to hit the second Wraith, and it had been trying to hit them. Neither had been successful in accomplishing their goal.

"Then back up. It's not rocket science." Chief slowly backed the tank up. On the targeting screen, the Wraith was now in range. Lining up the crosshairs on the screen, Chief mashed the firing button on the back of the control joystick. The whole vehicle jerked back as the 90mm shell launched from the barrel and hit...the wall just below the Wraith.

"That still didn't work, Cortana," Chief said as the empty shell was ejected from the back of the tank.

She mentally rolled her eyes. "That's because they moved. Try aiming for the main body."

Chief lined up the shot again, and waited. As expected, the Wraith moved to the side, and fired. Chief managed to hit it this time, but the plasma mortar hit the ground to the left of them, extreme heat melting part of the tanks heavy armor plating. Chief opened the canopy, and stood up. It had all gone silent. Around them, dead Covenant were laying everywhere. They had suffered no human casulties. Then again, one of the Marines had been hit with several pieces of smoking hot shrapnel, but he'd live.

Six was standing on his jumpseat, Carbine lowered, watching as the Marines tended to their wounded teammate. "There was nothing you could have done to help him, Six," Cortana said, knowing how Six would feel. Emile and Johnson returned to their respectful jumpseats, and Six replied to Cortana, "If I wasn't here tomorrow, would anyone care?"

Cortana was caught off guard by the question. "Of course someone would. You're like the normal one of our little team on the voyage of the damned."

"The normal one?"

Cortana let out a virtual sigh. Might as well get this over with. "Six, according to your file, you're not a Spartan III."

"Oh, I know that," Six answered, his thoughts wandering back to the flashback he had had earlier.

Once again, Cortan was dumbstruck. "Really? How?"

"I overheard a conversation during my augmentations. Someone said that I was one of the ten canidates for some testing or something."

Cortana smiled. This would make things much easier. "You are actually a test of a Spartan IV. Some project that even I have little knowledge of. But, going back to your previous question, why would you ask? We would all miss you. Althought Chief won't admit it."

"I only ask because in the past few days, I've nearly died twice. It could happen in an instant, and I'll be gone. I just want to know if I still have something to fight for." His thoughts wandered back to his promise to Ashley. but she was dead now, so what did it matter?

"No matter how harsh the war gets, Six," Emile intejected, "I got your back all the way."

"Thanks." Six smiled. At least two people were still with him. The tank slowly rolled down the ramp and into the cave. The cave was almost exactly like the one that the had drove through shortly after landing on the ring. The metal tunnel turned at ninty degree angles evey few yards, and the floor had large trianglular ramp-things that the tank simply drove over. The Control Room couldn't be very far now.

* * *

The Unggoy cowered in front of the Shipmaster. He had been rescued by the squads that had hit the humans base, and now he had to tell Taal all he knew.

"What did they say? Did you pick up on any of their meaning less conversation?" Taal asked, eyeing the pathetic cannon fodder in front of him.

"T-t-they said something about a jungle, me thinks. And maybe something about a weapon. Me missed most of what they sayed," Pango replied. He was starting to lose that fearful feeling inside of him, the one that always occured around higher ranking Covenant. He didn't know whether that was a good thing.

"You were sleeping, weren't you?" Taal was completely sick of how Unggoy patrols would suddenly take naps at the most inopportune times. Pango nodded. Taal sighed. "Very well, I'll send patrols to the jungles and have them search fo the sacred icon. In the meantime, you'll go back to your squad."

Pango headed for the door, and passed by the guards before turning around. "Shipmaster, Me heard rumor about Major Getu. Are they real?"

Taal nodded. "He is no longer a member of our holy Covenant. If you know where he is, report him."

"Me don't know where he be," Pango said as he exited the door. As he headed for the nearest methane station, he thought of what could have happened to his old squad leader, Getu. Maybe the humans had got him. His short attention span began to go off in several different directions. All the other Grunts were staring at him as if he were a human.

"What?" He asked, looking right back at them.

"You allowed yourself to be held hostage by the humans, and that is completely disgraceful," Zed'ed said. He was the highest ranking Unggoy in the room. Zed'ed smacked Pango in the face. "You be a disgrace to us, you be a disgrace to yourself."

Pango was concerned. Unggoy never acted like this. Zed'ed pulled a Plasma Pistol out and charged it up. "You die now." All the others had pulled their weapons out too.

Shit. This was weird. "Once Shipmaster hears of this, he be mad," Pango said, once again going into panic mode.

Zed'ed smiled beneath his mask. "He is the one who ordered it."

* * *

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I was going to have this posted earlier, but when I was working on it, I got sick. So sick that I couldn't finish. But I'm better now.**_

_**The other reason it's late is because my other story, Move On, My Spartan is beginning to come to an end, so I worked on it more so could finish faster.**_

_**I had a completely shitty day today, I might go into details later. In other news, we reached the goal of 60 reviews! And only 4 chapters past what I wanted. Chapter 15 got the 16th review, and chapter 23 got the 60th. That is a massive increase. Thanks to all my reviewers!**_

_**Other than that, nothing new to report, so...**_

_**Peace out!**_


	25. Chapter 25: Killjoy

_Chapter Twenty-Five; Killjoy_

"Wait! Don't touch that button!" Emile jumped off the tank and rushed over to the control panel that Six was in front of. The tank had reached a closed door within the giant metal cave, and Six had been sent to the controls to open it. His armored finger was only inches from a glyph-button that looked like an L.

"What do you want, Emile?" Six asked as Noble Four approached. Emile moved Six's hand away from the panel, and pushed a different button. The door slowly broke into four sections and slid back into the wall. "You know, I had that."

Emile rolled his eyes. "With your luck, I'm surprised that you haven't found the self-destruct button yet." Emile and Six headed back to the tank, and Chief eased the Scorpion over the weird metal speedbumps.

"Those two have got to be the most talkative Spartans I've seen yet," Cortana commented to Chief.

"Yeah," Chief responded, focusing on the tunnel ahead.

"Well," Cortana continued, "Six has an excuse, he's a IV. As for Emile, I guess he's just that way or something."

"Yeah," Chief repeated.

"You need to lighten up, John. You're always so closed up and to yourself. This war will be over someday, and if we win and you live, then you'll need to have people skills."

Chief ignored her.

On the main body of the tank, Six was walking over to the Marine sargeants. "Hey." Both Johnson and Keels looked up at him. "Spare a Sniper Rifle?" The sargeants looked at each other, and Johnson said; "Keels, give him yours. You can't hit shit with it."

"Okay, thanks!" Six said as he stole the Sniper Rifle that was resting behind Keels. He ran back over to his jumpseat, and looked back at Keels, who was shooting him the bird. Johnson was trying to suppress a snicker.

Emile held his Assualt Rifle over his shoulder. He staggered a little when the tank went over one of those metal speedbumps thingys. "Six, you wouldn't happen to have any spare shotgun shells one you, would you?" Six reached into his thigh pouch, and dug around a little. "Let's see, car keys, lightsaber, automatic nuke builder, 101 ways to get laid book, nope no shells."

Emile shook his head sadly. At least Six was starting to be an ass again. Even sadder, all Marines, except Johnson, had looked over at Six when he mentioned the 101 ways to get laid book. Just an every day statement about normal humans. Males, that is.

The tank stopped in front of a metal speedbump, and just over it was the enterance to a massive cave. There was enough room to fight a ton of shit in that cave. "Six, Emile, do a bit of recon and see what we're up against," Chief ordered, and the two Spartans dismounted from the tank. Six went prone and crawled all the way up and peeked his head over. As far as he could tell, there were two Elites right in front of them, pacing back and forth, on patrol. There was a bridge that spanned a gaint chasm, and Six slowly brought up the Sniper Rifle and peered through the scope as Emile crawled up next to him, Assualt Rifle resting in his elbows.

Across the bridge, he could make out two Hunters, two more Elites, and some Jackals. All along the bridge were Grunts, and Six could make out a stationary gun on each side. "Cortana, mark all Covenant forces, and transmitt the visual," Six told the AI.

Johnson joined the two Spartans, also going prone. His Sniper Rifle was across his back, and a cigar in his mouth. "How are we going to do it?" He asked. "Fast and loud, or slowly and quietly?"

Six honestly didn't know. "Chief, how are we going to do this?"

Chief sat inside the tank, analyzing the visual live from Six's point of view. "Um, take out those two Elites in front of you, and I'll bring the tank through." That could work.

"Consider them gone," Six said as he brought the rifle scope up to his helmet. He lined up one of the two Elites, and sqeezed the trigger. Six jerked back as the weapon fired. Elite blood and brains slpattered against the floor, scaring the shit out of every alien in the cave. He pulled the bolt back, and a second shot rang out. Johnson smiled as the other Elite took a bullet to the shoulder, and did a backflip from the force of the shot, and landed face first on the floor, blood slowly oozing from the wound.

The tank rolled up over the metal hill, and down into the large opening. Six pushed himself up, and crouch-walked beside the tank, using it for cover. "Hit the Hunters!" Chief ordered to anyone who would listen.

Six climbed up onto the body of the tank, and aimed the long-range weapon at the Covenant's largest shock troops. One of them fired a fuel rod at the tank. "Bail!" Six shouted as he jumped off the Scorpion. The Marines dove off the moving vehicle, and the fuel rod hit the tank right where they had the heavy machine gun set up. It melted through the armor, and Chief kicked the canopy open before the heat from the fuel rod could detonate the ammo stores.

Chief rolled to safety just as the Scorpion blew sky high. The main cannon was launched easily ten feet in the air, and fell down into the ravine. "I guess this means we go on foot," Chief commented as he stared at the burning wreakage.

"Ya think?" Six asked as he took aim at the Hunters once more. He fired, and the bullet went right in between the top metal cap and the main body armor, hitting the orange fleshy worms. The high caliber tore right through the worms, decapitating the Hunter.

Six tossed the clip out, now that it was empty, and searched his person for another clip. But, he found nothing. "Damn," he cursed as he tossed the empty weapon aside, and pulled out his Carbine. Plasma bolts hit him from the side, and he saw the Grunts and Jackals that were coming by means of the bridge.

Emile opened up on the poor Grunts with his MA5, mowing down several before the sixty bullet clip ran dry. He threw the empty clip at a Grunt, and the Marines joined in one the slaughter fest. Automatic fire tore through the ranks of Grunts, and the Jackals began to back up, seeing that they were over powered.

Chief through a frag at the retreating Kig-Yar, causing them to dive away from the grenade. It went off, killing two who were unlucky enough to be too close to it, and maiming another, now missing its legs. It tried to crawl away, yelping in pain as it made very little progress. Keels ended its misery with a well placed pistol headshot.

The two Elites from the other side of the abyss ran across the bridge, Plasma Rifles burning holes on the ground behind the humans. "You know, I think I would've rather died on Reach than be right here, right now," one of the Marines said as he dodged the plasma. Six raised his Carbine, but he was showered by blue bolts of heat.

Chief emptied a clip from his Assualt Rifle into the Elite that got too close. The alien went down in a pool of its own blood, eliciting a cry of anger from the other. It ran at their postition, throwing a plasma grenade at the humans. One of the Marines was too close to the blue ball of death, and was killed by the explosion. His armor was turned black, charred from the intense heat. His skin was melting, causing the room to smell of burning flesh.

Six rushed over to the body, and took the fallen Marines MA5, dropping the Carbine to the ground, and charged at the offending alien, bullets flying out of the gun. The Elite's sheilds held, but it recoiled back from the impact, allowing Six to get too close.

The Spartan smacked the Elite in the head with the Assault Rifle, and then did a Chuck Norris-style roundhouse kick to the face, crushing its skull. Six stomped on the head, and heard the sickly cracking sound of a dead Elites brains being squished out.

"Six! Behind you!" Emile shouted as he raised his MA5. Six turned around, and ducked a splitsecond later. He had almost been decapitated by the other Hunter's sheild arm. It swung its arm up, ready to bring it down on Six. Noble Six rolled to the side, only dodging it by a few inches. The force of the impact sent him sprawling of the edge of the bridge. He managed to catch the edge of the bridge, and tried to pull himself up, but the heavy stomping that the Hunter made as it walked toward him threatened to knock him off.

The Marines fired at the bigass alien, but they were completely out of ammo. This was bad, and to make matters worse, some of the Jackals that had escaped now had Beam Rifles and were taking potshots at them. They had taken cover behind some of the bridge braces that overlapped onto the bridge. Then, Emile went out of cover. "Hey! You big bitch! Fight someone worth fighting!" Emile shouted as he chucked his MA5 at the Hunter.

"Since you guys are the only chance of my survival, I'm not going to take that offensively!" Six exclaimed as he tried to pull himself up again. It was hard when you were wearing a ton of armor.

"RAAWWWRR!" said the Hunter. That could be translated as "Fuck you!" by some people. The Hunter charged at Emile, who was standing strong, his fist raised in a fighting position. "As soon as we're engaged, get your asses out of here," Emile ordered, still standing despite the shaking of the bridge. He started backing up, and the Hunter charged past the hidden humans.

"But, Emile, you can't possibly take on a Hunter without a gun and expect to survive!" Cortana exclaimed, as Chief and the Marines prepared to run by the Hunter. It could easily kill them all.

"Did I say that I expected to live?" Emile asked as he ran at the Hunter, pulling out his knife. He jumped at it, and everything went silent.

"Now!" Emile shouted and broke the silence. Chief and the Marines ran out of cover, and dodged the beams that were aimed at them. One of the Marines took a direct headshot, and collasped to the floor. Chief skidded to a stop in front of Six, who still hadn't managed to get up, and held out his arm.

Six took it, and Chief pulled him up. "Run!" Chief ordered, and Six took off, stopping only to grab one of the fallen Elites Plasma Rifles. Chief grabbed the other, and the two of the opened fire on the Jackals, who were killed by only a few shots.

Chief snatched the weapon out of Six's hands, and charged the Hunter, who was completely oblivious to him, since it had its back to him. Chief fired the Plasma Rifles, hitting the exposed orange flesh at the back. After a few seconds of fire, the weapons battery ran dry. The Hunter turned, and finally shook Emile off, who landed with a loud thud a few feet from Chief. That had to hurt. With yet another "RAAWWWRRR!" the Hunter charged once more.

Six watched on, and looked for a way to help. His eyes landed on the control panel next to the door out of the cave. "Emile, activate your night vision! Chief, do whatever it is you do that allows you to see in the dark!" He ran over to the controls, and pressed the button with the same glyph as the one ha always pressed.

The lights went out. Only the glow of the tiny lights on the fallen Covenant weaponry remained, as for a few lights of Chief and Emile's armor. Six remained in the faint glow of the panel.

Emile saw the room in green now, and hoped the Hunter didn't have night vision. He jumped on it again, pulling is knife out of the beast's belly, where he had thrust it in before. Chief circled around the Hunter, and jumped on the back, and proceeded to punch it in the fleshly orange worms.

Six heard the confused and fustrated roars, and finally heard the loud metal thud as the Covenant behemoth fell to the ground. He pressed the button again, and the lights returned. "Bet you're glad I found that button now, right?" Six asked as the other two Spartans approached.

"Don't flatter yourself. You almost died again," Emile retorted, and searched around for a weapon of any sorts.

"But, I did awesome." Six looked around the cave, observing the dead bodies, and the blown up tank. "Killjoys," he muttered as the Scorpion burned.

* * *

_**A/N: I hope this story is enjoyed by all who read it. Anyway, this might be the last chapter up for a while, since I'm going back to rewrite chapters 3-8. I don't wanna, but they sorta suck.**_

_**Next Chapter, we learn of an event in Emile's past. A rather shocking one.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	26. Chapter 26: I Like Pie

_Chapter Twenty-Six : I Like Pi_

_It was a week after the augmentations. The teen was still struggling to adapt to his new body, and the fact that he was a few inches shorter than the other Spartans didn't help. He was the same height as some the of smaller girls, and now was the prime target for poking fun._

_The only one that still talked to him, non-rudely, was Ashley, who was now an inch taller. One day, in the mess hall, some boys that had just been fitted for SPI armor had cornered him and Ashley._

_"Runt, you're only half the man I am." One of the bullies said, motioning with his hand the height difference._

_"And yet you're still twice the woman I'll ever be," the teen shot back. _

_"You won't even fit in SPI properly."_

_Well, the teen had just heard that he was one of the Spartan III personel that would be fitted for MJOLNIR power armor. It was his trump card over these assholes. "That's only because I wasn't ment to," he said as he held up his datapad, showing the transmission. As far as he knew, he was among ten people that had been able to keep theirs._

_"That's bullshit. Fake." The bully replied. His tag on his shirt was designated as A131. The bully laid eyes upon Ashley. "I know you're weakness, bitch."_

_He had been restrained through the whole thing. He saw Ashley struggle, and fight them off for a short while, before she was knocked out by a punch to the jaw, breaking it in several locations. They were in the training forest, one used for team matches. No one could hear a thing._

_On that day, the teen vowed to get his revenge..._

The door slowly split into separate sections, and slid into the walls, exposing the long hallway that was behind it. Six had retreived his Carbine, while Chief and Emile had picked up MA5s from the dead Marines. Johnson still had his Sniper Rifle in his hands, and the other Marine had a DMR. Six kept staring at the DMR, wishing to have one. The humans began to walk through the cave.

"Without the tank, or anyother method of transport, it's gonna be a long walk," the Marine said. "We need something to talk about to pass the time."

"Battle strategies?" Johnson suggested. The Marine rolled his eyes. "No, sir. Something fun, or interesting."

"The stupidity of some people?" Johnson tried, aiming the comment at the Marine.

"Okay, let's see...there were some people hundreds of years ago that had a day dedicated to pi," the Marine said. "That is pretty stupid."

"Pie? Really?" Six had to ask. The Marine was slightly taken aback by the comment, since Spartans don't chat.

"Uh...yeah. It was on March Fourteen. You know, three-point-one-four. March Fourteenth," he said.

"Oh, that pi. I thought you meant the baked pie." That was how everyone pretty much felt. Then again, no one really cared about pi. But when it came to pie, everyone was in for a slice.

The long hallway reached the end, which was a rock cave that was angled upwards. "Jackals." Emile pointed out, and raised his Assualt Rifle, but he was still too far out to hit them. Six aimed up at the Kig-Yar, and fired a single shot, hitting one in the hand, causing it to stagger backward, leaving Six the perfect opportunity for a headshot. He took it.

It was a beautiful shot. The scorching hot plasma went right through the head of the Jackal, and hit the snow behind it, the heat evaporating the snow. The other two Jackals raised their shields, and screeched something to one another. Six fired again, hitting slightly to the left of the alien.

The loud crack of a Sniper Rifle echoed in the small cave, and Johnson stepped forward, taking aim at the other Jackal with his long ranged weapon, the barrel still emitting smoke. Chief fired a single bullet from his MA5, from the hip, and hit the Kig-Yar's exposed arm. Johnson fired again, this time the bullet tore the Jackal's head off.

The group silently trekked up the slanted cave, toward the opening. Then they noticed the Spirit slowly descending infront of the cave. There were two Ghosts in the gravity field. "Emile, you and the Marines take left. Six and I will take right," Chief said, raising his Assualt Rifle toward the Ghosts. "No one fire until I say so."

Emile led the way for the normal humans. He held up his fist, signaling them to stop. The Marines stopped and took cover behind a rock. Johnson held his Sniper Rifle steady on the rock, aiming at a Ghost driver.

Six took aim at an Elite Minor, that was walking their way. It would be easy for it to stumble upon the hidden humans. The Ghosts slowly levitated into the cave. "Now!" Chief shouted.

The caved echoed with gunfire. Emile jumped over the rock, and charged directly at a Ghost, evicting the driver with his heavy metal boot. He took the controls, and turned to face the other Ghost, which the driver of said Ghost took a bullet to the brain. Six rushed over while Chief gave him cover fire, and hopped in the purple recon vehicle.

"Take this, bitch," Six muttered to himself as he boosted toward an Elite. The alien dodged to the side, managing to avoid it by only inches. "Damn," Six cursed as he held his Carbine in one hand, and steered the Ghost with the other. He turned around, and boosted at the Elite once more, firing three rounds at it, and the ammo was depleted. Six cursed again, and slammed the Ghost into the Elite, cutting it in half at the midsection.

Chief and the Marines let loose several rounds of automatic fire into the Grunts that had been cowering from the fight, effectively cutting them down in the hail of bullets. A frag was sent flying from the Marines, and it landed a few feet from an oncoming squad of Jackals. When it detonated, it killed all three of them.

"Shit!" Keels went down, smoking from a plasma burn on his chest. Chief fired the remaining bullets from his Assault Rifle into the alien, breaking its shields and leaving it with several bullet wounds, squirming on the snow.

Emile hopped out of his Ghost, and over to the Elite dying a slow and painful death. He raised his foot up, and stomped on the Covies face. He repeated the process over and over again, until the Elites face went flat under the metal. Blood oozed out into the snow.

"Wow, you really must hate the Covenant," Cortana commented on the sight.

"I gotta have something to take my anger out on," Emile replied. "And before you ask, I have a perfectly legitimate reason."

"Oh, really? What would that be?"

"Since you always seem to be in everyone else's buisness, I was supposed to lead my own CQC squad, until I was accused of murdering a Spartan trainee."

_**A/N: Much shorter chapter than most. I have took alot of time to plan out the remaining chapters, and I think that I have most of what I want in my mind. I also have been familiarizing myself with Anniversary again, so I'd have a better concept of what is said, and the maps.**_

_**Also, I need a beta reader. If anyone interested is available, and please let me know. Best part is the fact that you get to know what happens before anyone else! Oh, and you can point out my errosr, and laugh at the stupid ones.**_

_**Please drop a review and tell me how I'm doing.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	27. Chapter 27: We All Have Sins

_Chapter Twenty-Seven: We All Have Sinned_

"Emile, why would you be accused of murder?" Chief asked. He apparently had began to take a liking to the other Spartans.

"They found my kukri in the guy's neck, and they assumed it was me. They didn't do anything when I said I wasn't guilty," Emile told them. "Hell, they _praised _me for being stealthy, and I didn't do it!"

"Who did?" Cortana asked.

"I don't know! The cameras were shut off!" Emile had hit an emotional wall. They might have broken him.

Cortana remember how something like this happened with Six. The best thing to do now was to leave Emile alone for a while. No one wanted to see Emile pissed. "Six, what's your take on this?" Cortana wanted to get everyone's opinion on this subject. Well, everyone in MJOLNIR.

Six was sitting in the Ghost, his mind a million miles away...

_Ashley had been put in the infirmary, after barley surviving the brutal assualt of the others. The teen had already plotted his revenge, much worse than what they had done to his friend._

_He waited until night, and everyone waas asleep. He crept out of Beta Company's barracks, and slowly over to Alpha's. If his only other friend, Catherine, had managed to get the power off, then this would be easy. The doors were wide open, and several Trainee Spartans were sleeping. He walked silently, headed for A131. It would be a quick and simple job..._

"Six?" Cortana asked again. Six snapped out of the flashback, and shook his head. "Are you okay?" The AI asked.

"I'm fine. Just great." Six replied quickly.

They all sat in silence for a few seconds, before returning to the main objective. "Emile, take the Marines, and take the left side," Chief ordered, pointing out of the cave. The was a plateau in the middle of the valley, providing two options, left and right. "Six and I will take the Ghost and go right, and scout out what they have."

Emile thought about it, and nodded, still seeming far away. The Marines, Johnson and the other one, followed his as he left the cave. Chief hopped in Emile's Ghost, and boosted out of the cave. As far as he could tell, the Covenant only had foot soldiers.

"Take them out," Chief commanded Six, as the two boosted toward a gaggle of Grunts, flanked by an Elite. The purple hijacked vehicles tore through their ranks, killing three Grunts on the first pass. Hot plasma flew by Chief's head as he turned for the second pass.

Six mowed down the Elite, managing to catch the alien's weapon out of the air. He aimed it at the two remaining Grunts, and let loose. The Unggoy soon fell to the snow, their faces melted to the bone. Six turned around, and low and behold, there was Wraith.

"Damn, why can't the Covenant give us a break for once?" Six complained as the gunner opened fire on them.

"Humanity had been asking that for thirty years," Chief answered. "We out number it two to one. we can take it."

A plasma mortar landed just feet away, melting the snow, and forcing the Ghosts back several feet from the force of the blast. "I don't think anyone told the Wraith that," Six commented. The loud crack of a Sniper Rifle echoed through out the little valley, beheading the Wraith's gunner.

"Hey, we got'cha backs, Spartans," Johnson said over the radio.

Six fired at the Wraith's main body, but the heavy armor withstood the weak plasma. "Come on! It's like shooting them with a water pistol!"

"Distract that thing!" Emile shouted over the comms. "I'll flank it!" Six nodded to himself, and began to taunt the tank, by shooting at it, and back up slowly, staying just below the Wraiths mortar range, but too far for it to boost into it.

"Got it!" Emile shouted, and Six turned and sped out of the explosion radius. The tank exploded, send purple flamed debris into the sky, and landed only feet from Chief position behind a rock.

Aside from the crackling of the blue flames, and the occasional moaning from dying Covenant, the valley was silent. There was a canyon farther ahead, which looked like it would lead them onward in their quest of the damned to the Control Room.

"We should stop and rest," Cortana suggested. "After all, we have normal humans, no offense Six, with us, and they don't nearly have as much stamina as a Spartan."

Chief looked back at Johnson and the other Marine, and the other Marine looked exhausted. Johnson looked absolutley fine. It was almost as if he was a Spartan...

"Well," Six said, apparently trying to make conversation, "we have a Two, a Three, and a Four in the group." He guestured to each generation respectively, "Now all we need is a One. Were there even any Ones?"

Johnson smiled as he took out a cigar. "You bet your ass, sonny. I even met a few once."

"Really? What were they like?" Six asked, enthralled.

"Sorry, I already gave you too much classified information," the sargeant replied, as he took a drag of the cigar.

Sighing, Six plopped his ass into the snow, resting his arms on his knees. Emile and Chief were on their feet, scavenging any Covenant weapons available. Six's train of thought soon went right off the tracks...

_The teen spotted a kukri under one of the trainees pillows. It was in the 230 row, and the teen managed to take the bent blade out from under the pillow with out waking the Spartan who owned it._

_He stood before the bed of trainee A131, with the kukri raised above his head, ready to strike. _Can I really do this? _The images of Ashley struggling with A131, and what he did to her flashed across his mind. _Yes, I can. _He brought the knife down into the trainee's neck, and clamped his hand over A131's mouth, preventing him from screaming out. The teen slowly left the room, with a feeling of guilt washing over him._

Six shook out of the flashback. The realization hit him. He had killed another Spartan, and cost Emile his leader position, all to get back at A131 for what he did to Ashley. Six looked up, and saw Emile casually sharpening his kukri on his forearm armor, and felt that wave of shame flood over him.

_How am I going to tell him? _Six asked himself. _Oh wait, I'm not._

* * *

_**A/N: Thank You to Dejae, arbiter6784, and shadowblazex22 for beta reading.**_

_**Three beta readers, three Spartans. Coincidence. Completely. I have three so in case one misses something, the others can find it, and I have varied opinions, instead of one from a single beta reader.**_

_**Leave a review on your way out, let me know what you think.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	28. Chapter 28: YOLO

Chapter Twenty-Eight: YOLO

"Alright, let's move out!" Chief ordered. Six stood up, and brushed the snow off of his ass. Emile sheathed his kukri, and the lone Marine stood up.

"Hey, Emile, didn't you leave with more Marines?" Six asked.

"They got shot dead."

"Oh." Six picked up a Plasma Rifle from one of the dead Elite's corpse. Emile still had his MA5, Chief had one as well, and Johnson had his Sniper Rifle. The Marine held a DMR. Oh, how Six longed for the DMR. But, he would let her keep it.

The group headed for the canyon, with Six taking point, Plasma Rifle raised in one hand. Six turned the corner..."You have got to be kidding me."

"What is it now?" Emile had to ask.

"Hunters." Six ducked as a fuel rod passed over his head, and impacted on the cliff wall behind him. He grabbed for his only frag he had, primed it, and tossed it. It wasn't enough to kill a Hunter. "Anyone got an idea? I'm don't have a single one."

"What's new?" Emile muttered as he tossed a grenade at the approaching Hunters. The fragmentation bounced off one of them, and landed to the side. Six, Emile, Johnson, and the Marine dove behind a rock, as yet another fuel rod flew by.

"Someone ought to teach that giant spaghetti can a thing or two about aim," Johnson shouted, as he ran out of cover, and out of Six's sight. He heard multiple sniper shots, and the roaring of a Hunter. Johnson ran back into cover, and tossed away an empty clip. "That's how you shoot!" Six peered around the edge of the rock, and saw one of the Hunters, laying dead on the snow, orange blood oozing from the dead worms that made up the body.

"Okay, now, what about the other one?" Six asked. "Hey, where's Chief?"

The second Hunter made its charge, but right as it made it to the rocks, a Ghost slammed into the Hunter, and Chief fell out. The Hunter's front armor was dented, and the Ghost was smashed beyond repair. "That was your plan?" Six questioned. "All it did was ruin the Ghost, and piss the Hunter off even more."

"You have a better idea?" Chief fired into the Hunter, who was charging at them once more.

"Not really."

"That's what I thought." Chief reached for a grenade, and tossed it. The frag landed next to the Hunter, who brought the heavy shield down to protect itself. Shrapnel embedded into the Hunter's sheild, but other than that, it was completely unharmed.

"We could really use a M41 right about now," Emile commented, and climbed up the rocks to fire at the Hunter, before jumping down as a fuel rod turned the spot he had been just moments before into glass.

"I got this," Johnson jumped back out of cover, and fired the entire clip into the Hunter. The giant beast was still standing. "I guess they don't make bullets like they used to," Johnson said as he tossed another empty clip.

"Maybe they just make Hunters stronger than they used to," the Marine commented, lifting up her DMR as she peered around the corner of the rock. Unfortunately, the Hunter had then decided to fire, hitting her directly in the face, with a fuel rod. Her body went flying back, and rolled to a stop in the snow, steaming rising from her melted top half. "Shit," Johnson said. "That could've been me."

Six reached down, and picked up the DMR, which was on the ground when the Marine had been hit. It was warm, but it still looked completely operational. Six put the Plasma Rifle on his hip, and cocked the DMR. Emile stared at him. "What?"

"Something tells me that you aren't torn up over that Marine's death," Emile replied, checking for any extra MA5 ammo laying around. Not seeing any, he slung the Assault Rifle over his back, and drew his kukri. "Outta ammo."

"Why don't you use the shells on your wrist?" Six asked, pointing at the gray Spartans wrist. Six shells were attached to it.

"Those are used, and just for show. You know, to look intimidating," Emile told Six. "To make you feel like a badass."

"Yeah," Six scoffed, "If I were a alien a full foot taller than you would be run at the sight of puny shotgun shells on a demon's wrist."

"Hey, shotguns are more effective than DMR's."

"Only at close ranges! Like I want to charge at Elites that have Energy Swords!"

"Oh come on, that's fun!"

"You know," Chief interrupted, "If you two are done fighting, I could use your help." He was on the back of the Hunter, beating the exposed worms with his armored fist, and the Hunter was doing its best to shake him off.

Emile tossed him his kukri, but the throw was several feet off and the bent blade fell into the snow. Six reached for his knife, but then remembered that he had dropped it when he was thrown off the bridge. "Johnson, knife," he ordered.

"I do outrank, you know that, right?" Johnson said as he lit up a cigar.

"Yeah, but I'm the Spartan."

"I honestly won't take that as an excuse, but," Johnson handed Six the knife. "Prove to me that you and I are on the same level."

Six took the knife, and ran at the Hunter, screaming the battle cry of "YOLO!" He thrust the knife into the Hunter's abdomen, and pulled it to the side, severing several worms. The Hunter roared out, and switched targets from Chief to Six. Emile ran over with his recovered kukri, and stabbed the Hunter in the face. The behemoth was down in a matter of seconds.

As Emile pulled his kukri out, Six stared at the weapon, and remembered the last time he had used one. To kill a Spartan. But, in defence, he was avenging his raped friend.

"Something wrong?" Emile asked, snapping Six out of a flashback.

Six shook his head, and thought; _These flashbacks aren't as bad as the hallucinations, right? _

Chief lead the group through the canyon, facing little resistance as they made their way. They reached a curving downward slope, with Marines fighting two Hunters. "Oh, come on! More Hunters! I quit!" Six complained, getting stares from the other members of the group. "What?"

"As far as I can tell, we have backup, and one of the Marines has a-" Chief was cut off by an explosion, and pieces of a Hunter went flying into the air. "- rocket launcher," Chief finished.

"Concentrated fire should bring the other down," Emile suggested. They had more than enough Marines.

"Okay let's go!" Chief opened fire on the Hunter, which was now approaching the group of Marines. "Open fire, ladies!" Johnson ordered the Marines trapped by the cliff. Six pulled out the Plasma Rifle and let loose on the Hunter, attempting to melt the armor.

The Marines and Spartans were able to finish the Hunter before it made it a charge at the humans, which would have no doubt ended a few lives. "Alright men! Listen up! You are going to be assisting the Master Chief and his Spartans to the Control Room! And you will give the Covies hell! And you will like it! Stomp their brains in, shoot extra assholes in those assholes. Do you hear me?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The Marines exclaimed.

"Anybody got any extra shotgun shells?" Six asked the group. Several hands went up, and Six took up the collection. "Here," he muttered as he handed the shells to Emile, who eagerly took out his shotgun and loaded all eleven of the shells in. "You're welcome."

Emile took point, shotgun raised, keeping on high alert. Six followed along side Chief, DMR angled at the ground. They entered a cave, supported by the metal that most of the structures on the ring were made of. The blast of a shotgun echoed throughout the cave. "Stealth Elite, but I got him," Emile reported, as he picked up the Elite's energy sword and stuck it to his hip.

As they exited, they climbed up a small cliff, and right into a hellhole of Covenant. Johnson fired the Sniper as he got up the cliff, taking an Elite's head off. The aliens returned fire, sending the Ghosts in to take out as many humans as possible.

Six ran at one of the purple recon craft, and jumped on the hood. The driving Elite snarled at him, while attempting to shake Six off. He was able to keep his grip on the Ghost, and the driver pulled a Plasma Pistol on him. Charging it up, the Elite aimed at Six, who pulled himself up, and smacked the Elites hand. The overcharged plasma hit the Ghost, disabling it.

Six took the opportunity to kick the Elite in the head, knocking it out of the vehicle and pulled himself into the driver seat. "Okay, boost toward aliens. Grunts are ten points, Jackal fifteen, Elites are thirty, Hunters are extra lives," he commented, as he floored it at a group of fleeing Grunts. Blood splattered on the snow, and on the Ghost, leaving three Grunts dead as Six turned for another pass.

Emile led four of the Marines to cover behind a tree, while Chief and Johnson took the others to flank any Covenant. Six was splattering Grunts, laughing as they squealed in fear. All that was left of the Covenant forces here were two squads of Elites, and a bitchload of Grunts.

One of them Elites squads fired several rounds of plasma at Emile's team, attempting to hit them. "Open fire!" Emile ordered when the plasma had stopped. Chief had ordered his troops to do the same, and bullets criss-crossed as the Elites took fire. Johnson hit one of the aliens in the shoulder, and it fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

One of its buddies ran out to help it, but Johnson nailed that one in the head. Another fell to the concentrated fire of three Marines, and the last Elite left standing took off for a door in the side of the cliff. The other squad of Elites provided cover fire for the fleeing Elite. Now that was an oxymoron.

Six put the pedal to the...well, since there is no metal beneath a Ghost pedal, let's just say he went really fast at the Elites. They all scattered, but Six still smashed into one, the blades on the Ghosts wings cutting it in half. Another fell to the expert sharpshooting of Johnson, which really had been quite handy.

"Charge!" Emile shouted, pumping his shotgun and ejecting an empty shell. The Marines ran at the Elites guns blazing, and they were soon joined by the charge of Chief and Johnson and their Marines. They stood in a line just like a firing squad, which they were. The Elites had nowhere to run, since they had been pinned against the cliff wall. The automatic fire tore through their shields, and then their armor. Three fell as the trapped Elites ran at the wall of humans, firing plasma as the charged.

One reached a human, but had its guts blown out its back by Emile. "Cease fire," he and Chief ordered at the same time. For once, there was silence. Snow fell onto the dead bodies of the Elites, and the Marines shouted in celebration. They had gotten through a fight without any deaths.

"The Control room is a short trip from here," Cortana said. "But you'd have to go through that door in the cliff, and then to the bridge above you." Six looked upward, and saw the bridge. It was a couple hundred feet up easy. He had had some bad experiences with the last bridge he had been on.

"Hey, Blue!" Johnson called. Six turned toward the sergeant, being the only blue thing alive. Johnson tossed Six his Sniper Rifle. "I don't need this anymore. You take it." He tossed Six three extra clips for it.

Six collected the items, and put the clips in his pouch, and his DMR on his back. "Let's do this," he said, pulling the bolt back on the weapon.

_**A/N: Many thanks to Dejae, shadowblazex22, and arbiter6784 for beta-reading this chapter.**_

_**I must admit, I look forward to the end of the Assault on the Control Room chapters, which should be the very next chapter. It is probably one of the weirdest missions I've ever played. all the rooms look almost identical, you know?**_

_**Now that I have completed Move On, My Spartan, it gives me more time to work on this story. So yay!**_

_**Anyway, please review, and let me know how I am doing so far. **_

_**Peace out!**_


	29. Chapter 29: The Control Room! Finally!

Chapter Twenty-Nine : Nothing but Jackal, Jackal, Grunt, and Wall

_Ashley was still in the infirmary a full two weeks after A131 had raped her. Her jaw had recovered mostly, providing her with a limited talking ability. She gasped at the sight of a Spartan clad in MJOLNIR walked up to her. It was the standard Mark V [B] armor, blue and gray in color. The Spartan slowly removed his helmet._

_"How are you feeling?" The then-teen Six asked. He brushed her cheek gently with his armored hand, watching her blush._

_"Fine, but I won't be able to get my armor for another year," Ashley replied, stroking her red hair back._

_"What? You were assigned to my squad!" Six exclaimed. "Will you still be a part of my team when you do get your armor?"_

_"I doubt it. But we'll have to see when we get there." She reached up and traced the B312 written on his armor in white. "You'll always be my knight in shining armor."_

_Six smiled, and bent over to kiss her. It would be the last time that they would see each other for a long time. He put his helmet on, and with a deep sigh, walked out to the Pelican waiting for him._

_Ashley felt bad for not telling him. She had to stay in the infirmary for another three days, before she was sent to Reach to the hospital in New Alexandria. Ashley couldn't have told Six the reason, as it would have sent him over the edge. It would most likely be another nine months before she would get her armor, if they would allow her to fight on the battlefield, as she would be a mother..._

* * *

Six held the Sniper tightly in his hands as he watched Emile run his blade through the Grunt that had been sleeping peacefully on the floor of the hexagonal room just moments before. They had snuck into the room undetected, and had killed five Grunts.

"Keep low, we don't want the Elites to see us," Chief whispered. He crouched and crawled under a glass window that showed the main room, which had three Elites. Two Minors, and a big problem now is getting by the wide open doors with no cover whatsoever. "One at a time," Chief ordered, as he quickly ran across the doorway. He made it completely without a sound, and undetected.

Emile sprinted to cover, managing to catch the attention of a single Elite Minor. It walked over to investigate the gray blur that it had seen. It figured that it was just one of the Kig-Yar that...

The Elite's thoughts were cut short as Emile stabbed his kukri through its neck, and dragging the body behind a pillar a few feet away.

"Six, you'd better hurry. They're gonna notice that their friend here is missing sooner or later," Emile told him, and Six prepared to charge across the open doorway. Of course, he had absentmindedly stood up in front of the window, causing the two Elites in the room to see him.

They shouted in Sangheili, and fired at the window, plasma bolts melting the glass. "Dammit," Six swore as he dropped to the ground, hand flying toward his DMR.

"Of course, we should have seen that coming," Emile sighed as he aimed his MA5 at the aliens, wanting to conserve his shotgun ammo. The first barrage of bullets managed to wake up every sleeping Grunt in the room, alerting them to the danger. Emile unleashed a burst right into the face of the Major, causing it to roar out in pain, and dive for cover. A plasma grenade flew over the edge of the pillar that the Major had used for cover.

"Incoming!" Emile jumped back, propelled into the wall by the force of the blast. His MA5 clattered to the ground. Emile lay face down, his shields broken, and struggling to recharge. "His vitals are stable, just some increased heart rate, and slight damage to his left arm," Cortana informed them. "He should be fine, but killing the Covenant might help."

"Don't rush me," Six complained, firing into the face of the Minor with his DMR. The shots made the Minor flinch, and recoil, enabling Six to land almost perfect headshots. Its shielding broke, and the Minor charged at them in one last act of violence. Of course, it didn't even make it half way, as Six put a bullet through the brain.

"Nice shot, Six," Cortana complimented, still concerned over Emile. Six took some weak green plasma bolts from the side, and turned to face seven brave Grunts, firing their weak Plasma Pistols at him. Seven DMR headshots later, they were all dead, and Six tossed the empty clip. He took another out of his pouch, and saw Chief fighting the Elite in hand to hand combat. It looked like the Spartan was winning.

But Six still fired at the Major. The DMR rounds hit the Elite full in the face, and Chief finished it off with a super strong punch to the chest. Six winced as he heard the ribcage cracking, and flung his DMR back over his back. Emile groaned, but still seemed to be out.

Six guestured at Emile, who was still knocked out on the floor. "Perhaps we should've got those Marines to follow us."

"Why didn't you order them to?" Cortana asked, reviewing Emile's vitals.

"The sergeant out ranked me...wait. Is Lieutenant higher than Sergeant?"

"Um...yeah," Cortana replied. "Don't tell me that you thought he out ranked you."

"I might have. I never memorized the ranks."

Chief kicked Emile's foot, hoping to wake him. Six shook his head. "This is how you do it," he said as he took Emile's treasured kukri out of the shoulder sheath. Before he could step back, Emile's hand flashed out and grabbed Six's wrist. "Don't you ever touch that again. Ever," Emile sternly ordered, and stood up. He picked up the fallen MA5.

"Move out," Chief commanded very military-like. They travelled on, and Six watched as Emile sheathed the kukri. He tried to get his thoughts off the knife, but it was making him paranoid. Sooner or later, he would have to tell Emile, and he preferred later.

They reached an elevator like platform that could barely hold all of them on it. Six reached out to touch the control panel, and Emile and Chief instantly turned on the flashlights on their Assault Rifles. "Please," Six said, insulted. "You don't think that I would mess up this time, would you?" Emile and Chief looked at each other, and then back to Six. They nodded.

"Watch and be amazed." Six turned to the panel, and pressed a button. Nothing happened. "Um...it's got to be this one." He pressed another gylph-button, and still nothing happened. "I'm glad that these people didn't make weapons. I'd kill a whole Spartan squad," Six joked as he began to press random buttons in a random order.

Chief rolled his eyes beneath his visor, and pressed the only button that Six hadn't. The elevator slowly ascended, and Six flipped of Chief, who grabbed Six's finger, and twisted his arm behind his back. "That hurts. Please stop," Six whined, something that a Spartan should never do.

The green armored Spartan released his grip on Six, and reached for his MA5 as the elevator reached the top. A single Jackal stood guard, and was ambushed by the three Spartans before it could even alert any others. "Like last time, we'll do this silently." Chief said, as he slowly crouch-walked toward the open door. Two more Jackals paced around, looking bored out of their wits.

Emile whipped out his kukri, and quietly advanced toward the unknowing Kig-Yar. Six reached for his own knife, but remembered that he had lost it when he nearly died. Chief jumped out at the Jackals, while Emile stabbed one, and Chief landed on the other. Other than a muffled gargling sound, it was silent.

"Wow, impressive," Cortana commented. "You three should be a stealth insertion team."

"I'm pretty sure that Six and his old friend Ashley have done stealth insertions before," Emile said, trying to hold back a bit of laughter.

"No, she was in the hospital when I left training, and we didn't see each other for years...oh. Asshole." Six rolled his eyes at the perverted joke. He had heard way too many in training.

Chief led them into the next chamber of the building and it was...

"Another damn hexagonal room. Whoop-de-fucking-doo," Six complained.

"They don't know that we're here. We might be able to sneak by. We don't have enough ammo to fight them all," Chief observed. Emile wiped the blood off of his kukri, and tightened his grip on it. "Let's do this."

They sprinted silently into the room, and ran behind pillars and parts of walls, managing to not be seen by the sleeping Grunts, and the single Minor patrolling in the room. The next door opened to reveal a long bridge running alongside a second bridge. Grunts were walking across it, Needlers and Plasma Pistols in hand.

"Well, this looks slightly more complicated," Six commented, before taking out Johnson's S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and noted that it was a newer model. He had a total of ten shots, two in the current clip, and four in his spare two clips. "I'll cover you from a distance while you charge on through," Six said as he took up a position on a low wall in front of the door.

"Time to kick some ugly alien ass," Emile said, cocking shotgun, slightly worried about the ammo count that read ten shells. A sharp, loud crack echoed throughout the canyon, with a trail of smoke leading out from the barrel of Six's S2 AM.

"Nothing but Jackal, Jackal, Grunt, and wall," Six commented, smiling as he took aim at the fleeing Grunts.

Emile ran forward, shotgun aimed in front of him, with Chief following close behind. Long burst spewed out of Chief's MA5 as he fired upon several Grunts running in pointless circles. They fell down into pools of their own blood, slowly bleeding out. They both took plasma and needles from the side, forcing them into cover behind a strange metal protrusion in the middle of the bridge. "Six! Do something, will ya?" Emile asked/shouted into the comms.

"Fine," Six pulled out his DMR, and fired at the Grunts, pulling off one headshot after another. "Happy now?" Six asked, sounding like a sarcastic teenager. Emile smacked him on the head, and Chief seemed despondent, staring out into the horizon, or in this case, snowy wall.

"Um...you okay, Chief?" Six asked. When he didn't get an answer, he asked again. "Are you okay?"

Chief suddenly spun towards them, and emptied a full clip at them. "Dude, what the hell!?" Six screamed as he dove for the floor. When the firing had stopped, Six looked up, and saw the Elite that fell to the ground, with several bullet holes in it. "Well, that was close," he commented, pushing himself up.

"How far to the Control Room?" Chief asked Cortana.

"Only a few more rooms, and then we should be there," she replied, hoping to get out of this snowing hell. Now that was an oxymoron.

* * *

"I'm cold! My armor has a tear in the under suit!" Six whined as they walked out onto another bridge. They had fought through two more rooms, the bridge that the Grunts had fired from, another room, and now they were here. The snow bridge overlooked a large structure.

"That has to be the Control Room," Emile said, exasperated. They all were tired, save for Cortana. It had been one long journey here.

"Now how do we get to it?" Chief asked, eyeing the Elites that were patrolling the bridge farther up ahead. He ducked down behind a rock, and Six and Emile did the same.

Six poked his S2 AM over the edge, peering through the scope. "Well, they have two Banshees, so that means that only two can make it there." Chief and Emile looked at each other, and quietly snuck toward the purple aircraft.

"Hey, no fair!" Six shouted as he took off after them.

"Shit, we've been made. Run!" Emile yelled as he and Chief sprinted toward the Banshees, firing at the startled Covenant as they ran. They made to the Banshees, and jumped into them and boosted off. Emile felt his Banshee jerk downward as something boarded it.

He glanced out the canopy, and saw Six pulling himself onto the left wing. "Six, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hitching a ride. What does it look like?"

"That's what it looks like." Chief had already touched down at the top level of the Control Room's building, and was engaging the Covenant forces that had been hiding behind the bigass door.

Emile fired the fuel rod at the group of aliens, while trying to keep the Banshee airborne. Not easy with a hunk of metal on one of you wings.

Chief side-stepped the Elite Zealot's Energy Sword as the fuel rod impacted. It managed to take out a few Grunts, and a lowly Minor. The Zealot roared, and Chief punched it in the jaw. Next came a jab to the solar plexus, or where it was on humans. To finish it, he grabbed its head, and smashed it into his knee.

The golden Elite squirmed on the ground, and Chief smashed its head with his foot. Blood and brains leaked out. He looked up in time to see the other Banshee hit the ground, skidding and sending sparks up as it came to a stop. Emile kicked the canopy open, and crawled out, while Six crawled out from beneath it.

"We're here," Six said dryly, as he stood up, brushing the dust off of him.

"Yeah, after all the enemy is dead," Chief shot back.

"Well, I meant we made it to the Control Room, after all this travel. But, hey, you didn't get crushed by a Banshee."

They walked into the large hallway that went into the side of the cliff, and followed it until they reached another door.

"This is it," Cortana said with excitement. "We made it."

"I thought that we pre-established that," Emile said, elbowing Six.

Chief pushed a button on the neaby control panel, the door broke apart and slid into the walls, revealing the Control Room. There was a large projection of Halo around a circle that was connected to the wall by a long bridge. The trio slowly walked up to the glowing panel.

"Put me in," Cortana ordered. Chief put the AI into the system. "How are you?" he asked.

"Never been better. All this information, it's glorious!"

"Now, how do we activate Halo's weapon?"

"Excuse me?"

Chief sighed. "Let's stay focused. Halo. How do we use it against the Covenant?"

"Halo isn't a cudgel, you barbarian. The Covenant were right. The ring is Forerunner. Yes, the Forerunner built this place." Cortana seemed deep in thought. "No, that can't be right. Those Covenant fools!"

"You want to fill us in?" Six asked.

"The Covenant found something, and now they are terrified. I'm not sure...The Captain! You've got to stop the Captain!"

"Keyes?" Chief was confused.

"Hurry! Before it's too late!"

Chief ran the hell out of there, still not fully grasping everything that had transpired. "Foehammer, we need evac stat," he ordered the pilot, as Six and Emile caught up to him.

"Copy Spartans. ETA two minutes."

Six was astounded. "Two minutes? That's pretty fast. Weren't you at the base?" Six asked, struggling to keep up to the other Spartans.

"What base?" It was Tallert, the Marine who had fought with on several previous occasions. "You mean the one that the Covenant wiped out?"

Six stopped in his tracks, and Emile and Chief slowed to a sprint. "What?"

"You heard him right," Foehammer said. "The damn Covies took out the base. We were in the process of finding any other UNSC camp or something, so we headed to the mass of UNSC IFF tags, which was around here." The Pelican landed outside the door of the hallway, with barely any room to move. "Let's go. They sent Banshees!" Emile and Chief reached the ship first, and stood by the opened hatch, weapon raised toward the sky. Six jumped in as he reached it, and the Pelican lifted off.

Six noticed the three wounded Marines, laying on the floor, huddled under blankets. There was enough room in between them for the pilot to walk in and out. Tallert sat next to the girl that was one of the three that Six had escorted on the Cartograhper Island. The guy was there, and there was a new woman with them. Tallert ran his hands through his red hair as he checked the vitals on a datapad.

He plopped down in one of the open seats, and leaned his head against the cold metal, and slowly drifted off to sleep...

* * *

_**A/N: A triple thank you to Dejae, arbiter6784, and shadowblazex22 for their exellent work on beta reading.**_

_**I'm glad that that's over. AOTCR isn't one of my personal favorites. Anyway, updates for all of my stories might be a little slower than usual, as I have to take Driver's Ed until tomorrow, even though I should have this week off from normal school.**_

_**I have had a stressfull week, struggling with some personal issues. But no fear, I intend to remain vigil in updating.**_

_**Next chapter will be like Chapter 15, a chapter to get caught up with all the other minor characters. Trust me, they will become more major characters as the story goes on. Some might be able to predict what happens to some of them.**_

_**Like normal, drop a review. It can be positve, negative, or anything at all. **_

_**Peace out!**_


	30. Chapter 30: Elsewhere on the Ring

_Chapter Thirty; Elsewhere_

Michelle Collins groaned in pain. She was the only survivor of her escape pod, and had been severly wounded in the crash. Alone for alomst three days, she had lived off of the MRE's in her pouch, and what was left in her canteen. She was completely out of supplies, and lay dying. From the crash, she had recieved four large cuts on her head, and her eyes had been glued shut with dry blood. Her left leg was broken, she knew this because she couldn't move it without pain. There was a piece of metal sticking out of her left arm, and immoblizing it.

Michelle was praying for death, when she heard footsteps. Could they be getting closer? Oh thank God, they were. She attempted to call for help, but all that came out was a rasp. But, the footsteps got closer. they had heard her. Something stepped in between her and the sun, causing it to get darker. Not like she could see anyway. "Wat...water," she rasped. She attempted to point to the area where the canteens were kept, but since she was going off of where she thought she was in the pod, there was no way of knowing if it was the right place.

A canteen was thrust into her lap. With a new found strength, she lifted it up with her good hand, and unscrewed the cap with the help of her mouth. She chugged a good bit of it, and poured the rest over her eyes to wash away the blood that had held them shut. The canteen fell to the floor as her free hand began wiping her eyes clear. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. Then she looked at her savior. It was not what she had expected.

In front of her, there was an Elite Major, crouching down, looking her in the eyes. It had a human pistol attached to its hip.

"You came to finish me off, hingehead? Then do it," Michelle rasped.

"Why must humans insist that all Sangheili are evil?" It asked in broken English. "We have several decent members of our species."

"Oh yeah? Name one, hingehead," Michelle spat at him.

"Me, because I am willing to save your life."

"Now why would a hingehead do a thing like that to a puny human, like me? Why not just kill me like the other thirty or so billion?" Michelle asked, mock-tapping her chin.

"Why must you make this difficult, human?" Getu Sel'gath shook his head. Humans.

Michelle saw a M90 shotgun laying a few feet away. She had never noticed it before, as her eyes we covered in dried blood. "I don't see what the problems is. Your kind has been killing mine for the past thirty years. Why go soft now?"

The Major stood up. "They took my family. My younger sister, my mother, my father. They killed them all."

Michelle's hand inched toward the shotgun, and she stopped. "Why?" She felt compelled to ask. She had heard some stories about Elites getting killed for betraying their kind, and running from battle and all that. But this was new.

"I ran from a fight, and my team was killed. Then, I ran from another fight," Getu remembered the fight in the cell block. "And then a third fight, with a Zealot. I'm not going to force you human, but I need help to avenge my family."

Michelle snorted. "I'm not going to help you, hingeheaded bitch."

"So be it," Getu walked away from the pod, leaving the Marine trapped in it.

Collins weighed her options. She could stay here and die, or go with the Elite, who would most likely kill her as well. Oh well, might as well take the one that would let you live longer...

"Wait! Don't leave me here!" Getu smiled when he heard the Marine crying out. In his years in the Covenant, he had learned that humans had a fear of death. Well, he did too, but...

Pango heard the discharge of plasma, and winced as he braced for impact. But when he felt nothing, he slowly opened his eyes to see other Unggoy walking up to him, with Zed'ed laying dead on the ground, body badly burnt from plasma fire.

The other Grunts had wandered over to see what was happening, and a brave soul, which was rare in Unggoy, had stepped forward to save his friend.

Pango shuddered as he saw the steam rising from the body, and quietly left for his food nipple. He didn't think that it was fair that they had tried to kill him because he had surrendered to the humans. After all, he was an Unggoy.

"It might be better if me just leave starship," he whimpered to himself. Unggoy were ruled by fear, and Pango put his small brain to work finding a way to make the Covenant pay...

The patter of his feet echoed gently in the empty corridor of the ship. His mind was a thousand miles away when he entered the Ghost bay. Countless numbers of the recon craft lined the walls. And, the room was currently unguarded. They wanted him dead, so he might as well leave the ship. Might as well...

Tallert scanned the three wounded Marines with the hand-held vital reader. All came back good. He turned to the Spartans, one of which had leaded against the wall.

"You want me to do a quick medical check?" Tallert asked. Chief looked at him and shrugged. Removing his helmet, Tallert held the scanner to Chief. Everything looked good. He moved over to Emile, and everything checked out. He then held it to Six. "Um...he's dead," Tallert pointed at Six.

Scoffing, Emile smacked Six with the butt of his shotgun. "What the hell?" Six asked, as he jerked awake. "Why?"

"Your vitals are offline. I thought you were dead," Tallert explained. Six sighed and slowly leaned back against the wall again, falling asleep.

"Dammit, Covenant patrols," Foehammer called from the front of the Pelican. "I'm going to have to land until they move on."

"How long should that take?" Chief asked.

"Not sure. It could be a few minutes, it could be several hours." The Pelican lowered itself down into a clearing in a jungle. "The captain last known location should be only twenty-five miles to the north, so if worse comes to worst, we'll walk."

The back hatch opened, allowing the Spartans to exit. Tallert grabbed one end of the male wounded Marines stretcher while Foehammer grabbed the other end. Six woke up, again, and picked up the female Marine and carried her out. Emile took the other female.

Chief led the way, searching for any cover what so ever. Eventually, they happened across a cave, with just enough room for them to be comfortable. "We'll stay here 'til night, and then we move out," Foehammer said, lowering the wounded man to the floor.

"I'll get the medical supplies," Tallert shouted, as he ran out the cave entrance.

"And while ya' at it, can you put the camo net on the Pelican?" Foehammer called after him. Tallert gave a thumbs up and continued back to the ship.

"We should come up with a plan. We don't know Keyes' location, and we don't know what type of weapon Halo has, or how it is used." Chief said. "Emile, take point, as you have the shotgun. I'll go in the middle, and Six you take the rear."

"You do know that we always fall out of formation no matter what, right?" Six asked, removing his helmet. Foehammer stared for a few seconds, before returning to patients. A pair of Banshees flanked by a Phantom roared overhead, but didn't seem to notice the humans. "Do we really have to wait until night? Those Banshees are too close of comfort."

"Unless you want to get shot outta the air, I suggest we wait until night," Foehammer replied, looking at the medical scanner. "We can go at evening, but I say night is-"

"Then we go at evening," Chief blurted out.

Emile nudged Six. "You know, he seems like he's in a hurry." Six responded by tapping where the AI slot would be on his helmet. "Oh, right. He has feelings for his AI."

"And like you don't have feelings for anyone?" Six shot back.

"Nope."

"Yeah right. Why are you so closed up? Come on, lighten up. Enjoy the day. Live life to the fullest," Six told Emile as he tossed his helmet up and down in his hands.

"It that's you motto, keep in mind that you nearly died twice," Emile retorted.

"You still haven't answered the question. Why do you keep to yourself?" Six pried.

"If I ever want to tell you, I'll tell you." Emile walked into the very back of the cave, where he sat down and began to sharpen his kukri on his forearm armor. Six shrugged, and sat down, leaning against the wall to catch up on his nap.

Tallert stumbled back into the cave, toting a large bag with the medical symbol on it. "I got the stuff. The Pelican is camo'ed. And I'm hungry," he said, as he dropped to the ground on his butt and tore open an MRE.

Chief glanced out into the jungle, noticing that it stretched farther than he could see. He heard Six's loud snoring, and silenced all sound with his helmet. His thoughts drifted to Cortana, and how much he missed her already.

The wounded Marines came around, groaning in pain. Their injuries were mostly healed now, and they seemed able to walk. All except Karrie, the one that got shot in the leg. "You guys slept too much," Tallert commented as they sat up. Miller weakly threw the medical scanner at him. "Quiet, that's an order." Miller promptly fell back down, and groaned at the pain.

Chief rolled his eyes at them, and sat down next to the enterance, keeping watch for any signs of Covenant. His mind told him to get some sleep, because he had the feeling that they were going to pull an all-nighter.

_**A/N: Once more, thanks to Dejae, arbiter6784, and shadowblazex22 for betaing this chapter.**_

_**Ah...chapter thirty. I've come a long way. 77 reviews is pretty good, but honestly, the reviews weren't as abundant as they were a few chapters ago. I appreciate them a lot. Let's shoot for 100 by Chapter 34! **_

_**I'll make a deal. If we reach 100 reviews by chapter 34, then I'll reveal who Ashley's child is.**_

_**The thing about reviews, it's like every time I see an Arctic Battle Rifle laying around when I'm on LIVE. Damn, I want one so bad...I would kill for one. Wow, I think that I might be playing Halo 4 a little too much.**_

_**Anyway, next chapter we start 343 Guilty Spark! Yay! -Sarcasm. Then the Library. I hate that one so much it doesn't deserve sarcasm.**_

_**Drop a review if you like, or else I will...well, I don't know what I threaten to do...so, yeah.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	31. Chapter 31: Flash Flooding

_Chapter Thirty-One: Flash Flooding_

The sun was setting on the horizon as the humans made it back to the Pelican. The sky glowed orange, creating what would have been a beautiful sunset, had they not been trying to escape from the Covenant patrols.

Six held the DMR tightly in his grasp, keeping one hand on it while he used the other to pull the camo net off the Pelican. Chief was the first into the hatch, fiddling with the safety on the MA5 in his hands, obviously wanting to get back to Cortana. Six could relate, as he really wanted to see Ashley again, but that was never going to happen, as she was dead now.

"Come on, hurry up," Foehammer ordered, sitting down in her pilot seat. Tallert was farther behind them, helping all three wounded people get into the Pelican. The injured seemed to be able to walk, all but the one that Six recognized from the Cartographer Island.

Once they were all on board the Pelican lifted off, sailing a few feet above the dense jungle. They passed over a swamp area, at which Foehammer slowed down. "The last transmission from the Captain came from this area," she said, lowering the Pelican to the ground. "Once you're done here, radio me and I'll pick you up."

Chief and Emile immediately jumped out, landing feet first in murky water. Six glanced down, and sighed. He had just gotten a chance to rest, and now it was back to work. With making barely any sound, he jumped out, and into the water with his comrades. "Let's do this," Six said, pulling the bolt back on his DMR.

"Crashed Pelican," Emile informed them, pointing through the fog. There was a Pelican, wrecked into a rock with most of its contents on the ground around it. The main body was charred, and very little smoke was found coming from it. The medical kits on the inside were gone, and there were signs of people walking away from the crash. Apparently, the people on board survived. For a while anyways.

"Scavenge anything useful," Chief ordered, reaching down to pick up a frag grenade. Emile saw three boxes of shotgun ammo on the ground, and put them in his pouch seemingly relieved to have a decent amount of shells. Six saw nothing of worth to him, so he just stood there, waiting for the other two to finish. "Move out," Chief motioned ahead with his hand, and Emile took point as planned, shotgun in hand and aimed through the fog.

Green bolts of plasma lit up the area in front of them, revealing that there were two Grunts and a Jackal running around, and settled on the Spartans as a target.

"Six take the Jackal, Emile and I will get the Grunts," Chief ordered, throwing a frag. SIx raised his DMR to his visor to aim, when the grenade detonation blew the Covenant members to shreds.

"Jackal is dead," Six said, lowering his weapon, and then holding it with one hand. Emile just gave him one of those 'no shit' looks.

"Then let's go. We have no time to waste!" Chief broke out into a jog, with Emile following close behind. Six shrugged, and ran to catch up with them. Chief was running faster than Six or Emile could, leaving the III and IV far behind him.

Six heard the automatic fire of a MA5 echo in the distance, and shook his head sadly. Which species of Covenant was now dead in this swampy hell hole? He and Emile found Chief staring at something on the other side of a small canyon like thing, with a large tree root making a bridge.

"Look at that," Chief said, and Six squinted, barely making out a large figure running down the hill on the other side of the canyon. He went for the scope on his DMR, but the figure was out of sight when he looked again.

"What was that?" Emile asked, tightening his grip on his shotgun, which meant he was nervous about something. Emile was rarely nervous about fighting anything.

"It might have been some screwed up Brute," Six suggested. "Like one that has a birth defect."

"If it had a defect, the then Brute's parents probably would have killed it," Chief told Six.

"Chances are that's its nothing. We're just getting all worried over nothing," Six then suggested.

"I certainly hope so," Chief muttered, walking across the large root and up the hill. The former Noble Team members followed suit, and saw a Forerunner structure, with a large, wide open entrance. Seemed legit...

...until several Grunts and Jackals ran out the enterance, being fired at be MA5 fire. "What's wrong with that picture?" Chief asked, shifting his Assault Rifle between his hands.

"Nothing," Six replied. "A few Marines have got them fuckers on the run."

"Jackals don't usually run from a fight," Emile pointed out. "They use the Grunts as fodder when they leave. They rarely run among them."

"Sure, now that you point it out," Six said. "I guess that sounds logical. Who wants to be seen around a Grunt?"

"The person who killed it," Emile said, with a hint of a smile beneath his visor. He switched to the MA5 that he had, and fired several short, controlled bursts into the fleeing crowd, killing all but the Jackals.

Six raised the scope of is DMR, and took in a deep breath to steady the weapon. He squeezed the trigger, sending an alarmed Jackal to its death. Chief gunned the remaining two Kig-Yar down in a flurry of bullets, leaving them with several new holes.

"Looks like we have to go into the building," Chief pointed out. "Emile, take point, Six keep beside me."

"Can do," Six replied, slinging his DMR over his shoulder, and pulling out the pistol he found in the Pelican. He wanted to save DMR ammo, so he didn't really have a choice. He stared down at the weapon in his hands, remembering a time long ago, and the teammate that used to use Magnums...

_"We're being redeployed to Sword Base," Carter informed them, telling them casually as if to were nothing._

_"Sword?" Jun asked. "The Covenant own it now."_

_"Which is why we're wanted for a torch and burn op, to keep the research data from falling into enemy hands." _

_"If it hasn't already," Kat put in, as Carter's lift touched the ground._

_"Maybe, but ONI isn't taking any chances," Carter said, running to the fallout bunker with Emile and Jun right behind him._

_"I don't see how Holland can get away with calling this a priority one-" Kat's sentence was cut off by the needle that went through her head. Six caught her falling body in his hands, and took the Magnum off her hip, trying not to think about the hole in his friends head.. _

_He emptied the clip into the figure that he could see in the Phantom hovering nearby, and soon all of Noble Team was in on the shooting with their MA5Bs. The Phantom flew off, with Kat's killer safe inside._

Six snapped back into reality when Emile smacked him in the stomach with his shotgun. "Can we go now, or do you need to take a personal vacation?"

"Let's go," Six sighed, pulling the slide back on the Magnum. The facility gave off a bright blue glow from the lights inside. As the Spartans entered, a lift raised to the ground floor from deep within the ring.

Emile was the first on, and saw the control panel. "We know what that button does," he said, pointing at the glyph in the shape of an L. Pushing the button that Six never pushed, the elevator slowly began to descend. There was an eerie silence in the air, as none of the Spartans were sure about what they were about to encounter. Heading towards a secret weapon stashed away on a ring for thousands of years had that effect on people.

Six broke the silence. "Isn't this where the ODSTs were sent? It's possible that some might still be alive."

Emile raised his hand in defeat. "Well Six, you just officially ruined this unpleasant experience by making it worse."

Chief remained silent, but giving a slight nod. Spartans were not fond of ODSTs. The lift reached the underground floor, and the trio stepped off. The room the were in wasn't totally different from the one that they had left, although this one had Jackals and Grunts in it.

"Open fire," the Master Chief ordered, unloading his clip into an unfortunate Grunt. Six fired three shots at a Jackal, but the Kig-Yar was able to raise its shield before it was hit. Emile pulled the pin outta a grenade, and rolled it toward the group of Covies. When it detonated, no aliens were left standing. Blood was splattered everywhere, and limbs were strewn around.

"No Elites, is that good?" Six asked. It could be good, since they wouldn't have to fight any of the hingeheads, and it could be bad, if the Elites had a logical reason to stay the hell away from this place.

Chief shrugged, and continued forward. The Spartans met little opposition by the time they had reached a door that had been previously opened, as indicated by the UNSC door hacker thingy on it. Chief reached out to press the button, when a guttural growl was heard off in the distance. They all whipped around, weapons raised.

"Like, what the hell was that?" Six was, obviously, on edge. His DMR was in his hands, was was wavering slightly. Chief turned around and pressed the button. The door slid opened, revealing a Marine body leaning against.

The body fell onto Chief, who entered the room slowly as Six and Emile covered the back. The door shut behind them with an ominous click. It was a large, wide open room, with no where for cover, and doors lining the walls. Bloodstains covered the walls, along with some sort of brownish slime in a few places.

"It's like a horror movie," Emile muttered, crouching down to observe the slime.

"Oh please. Space zombies? That would hardly make sense," Six scoffed. Chief found a Marine's helmet, and was playing the video recording. Cortana could have linked the video to the other Spartan's HUDs, had she been there.

Chief jerked upright at the end of the video. He yanked out the chip, and aimed his MA5 around the room.

Six pointed his DMR in one hand, and his pistol in the other. "Umm...you gonna fill us in? Or do we have to find out for ourselves?"

One of the several doors in the room bent outward at the force of something trying to get out. It bent out even farther at another strike. Six could feel sweat forming on his brow, as something that could bend a door like that had to be dangerous...

"They might be friendly...?" Six suggested, weakly as the door gave way. Tons of little, tan-ish creatures flooded out, with red feelers on their mouths. Chief immediately fired upon them, the automatic rounds wiping all of them out in one long burst.

"That's it?" Six shouted. "That's what Halo's weapon was? A Grunt could kill those things!" Now, you see, the universe has a way of things, call irony. That's what's about to happen...

The door that they had come through burst open, with several of the little creatures pouring through, but there were larger, more human like ones. "What in the hell?" Emile swore as he saw the dead human, his body all twisted and contorted into God knows what.

"Umm...guys!" Six yelled.

"Not now!" Emile shouted back, blowing the space zombie away with a shotgun blast. Hey, Six was right! "Currently, Chief was holding his own with his MA5.

"It's really important!"

"Not now!" Emile sliced through another infected human with his kukri, going for the face, as he had no idea where to hit these things. The thing fell to the floor, oozing slime. Emile's shields flared as he was hit by a DMR shot. "What the hell Six? That was friendly fire..." Emile turned and saw what was important.

Another of the larger infected creatures, this one looking like it was half Elite, was holding Six's DMR in one distorted hand, and holding Six in the air with tentacles wrapped tightly around the Spartan's neck and arms. Six was swinging his feet at the tentacles as hard as he could, trying to get it to loosen its grip. The zombie creature was winning by far.

"Told you it was important," Six rubbed in. The creature squeezed harder on Six's necked, threatening to squeeze the life out of him. Everything was turning blurry to Six, and then he lost consciousness...

Emile mentally smacked himself. Six had a knack for getting knocked out in the most inopportune times.

_**A/N: Thanks once again to the beta readers: Dejae, arbiter6784, and shadowblazex22.**_

_**Ah, the lovely Flood. Yay. Anyway, this story just reached the 20,000 view on Friday! That's a lot better than I expected this story to reach. **_

_**The 100 reviews deal still stands. So... leave your contibution today! I'll add on to the deal. If we reach 100 reviews by chapter 34, then I'll also have something on Emile's emotions...that's all I will say.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	32. Chapter 32: Admitting

_Chapter Thirty-Two: Admitting_

_Six looked around, noting that it was black. "Must've died, again," he muttered to himself. There was nothing around him, just the vast emptiness. It was like standing in a black hole._

_But, as in all darkness, there was a light. A light shining in the darkness. Six recognized the figures in the white light. "Jorge, Carter, Kat, Ashley. You guys are dead," Six said, stating the obvious. _

_"We know," Carter said. "Well, at least three of us know."_

_"What does that mean?" Six asked. "You all are dead." Carter and Kat sent a look over to Ashley, who stood there, head down toward the ground. If that even was the ground..._

_"Hey, where's Jun?"_

_"He's alive, somewhere," Carter replied. "At least, for now he is."_

_"So he did survive." Six shrugged at looked at Ashley. "I suppose that you all are here to give me a pep talk that will bring me back to life. Am I right?"_

_"Wrong," Kat interjected. "Dead wrong." There was an ominous tone to it._

_"Um...okay," Six was starting to get worried. "Then why are you here?"_

_"You could have saved each one of us," Jorge said, voice changing to some sort of mutilated tone. "But you failed!" Six did not like where this was going. "If only you had been faster, you would have gotten back before the Covenant ruined the slipspace drive's timer!"_

_"And you should have seen the Phantom rising in the background. I thought we were friends, Six. You were supposed to watch my back." Kat told him. "Hell, you didn't even kill my killer."_

_"You should have destroyed those Scarabs!" Carter shouted at Six. "You and Ashley never obeyed most of the orders I gave you, anyway! But no! For once you listen, and I was killed!"_

_"What the hell do you want with me?" Six asked, staring at Ashley. She hadn't moved, instead just staring at the ground._

_"We want to avenge our deaths!" Carter reached up to remove his helmet, as did Kat and Jorge. But, instead of their faces, they were whatever those zombies creatures were. "You will join us in death! The agony of the Flood! There is no escape!" They ran at Six, but Ashley, who had her normal face, threw herself in front of the creatures that appeared as Noble Team, holding them off. "Run!" she ordered him._

_"I know you weakness, human. You past is what hold you back, and I can and will use it against you!" This voice was more powerful, like a god. It had that echo effect as well..."The demons of you past will be the downfall of you!"_

_Six took off running, not really sure where he was going. After all, it was only a gaint dark void and his mind was pretty fucked up. He started to feel as if he were slipping away from this realm. There was pain in his neck, as if it were being..._

...as if it were being squeezed. Six's eyes flew open, and he realized that he was still being held by the zombie. Whether it was a dream brought on by near death, or this creature had gotten into his mind, Six knew that Ashley had saved him somehow. And now, he had a promise to keep.

With a gasp for air, Six swung his foot into the belly of the beast. His foot remained stuck in the decomposing flesh of the creature, and pressed against the Sangheili's former ribcage. Swinging his other foot into the zombie, he pushed against the ribcage with all his strength, tearing the tentacles right out of the creature.

Six rolled on the ground, untangling himself from the slimy appendages of the zombie. His DMR was still in the grasp of the creature, but his pistol was only a few feet away. He rolled over to it and grabbed it with his first free hand, firing the entire clip into the zombies torso. It hit the ground with a sickening splat, internal organs scattered on the floor.

Emile tossed his kukri to Six, which the IV used to cut himself free from the slimy tentacles. "Thanks," Six muttered tossing the knife back to Emile. He and Chief had cleared the room of the creatures by the time Six retrieved his DMR. "What's the plan of action?"

"First thing we're gonna do is get the hell outta here," Emile answered, loading new shells into his shotgun. "Then, it's back to Cortana. Chief's orders."

Chief nodded, and kicked a medpack that was on the floor over to Six. "In case you need it."

Six shook his head, but picked it up and stashed the contents in his pouch. "In case any of us need it later." Then he noticed Chief was holding a shotgun, and was reaching down to pick up another.

"These things are vulnerable to the M90s," Chief said, tossing the spare to him. "Keep this ready at all times."

Six caught it with his free hand and put his Magnum on his hip. His DMR was already resting on his back. He cocked the shotgun and nodded. "We doing this Spartan style?"

"Well, I thought we might try to mix it up a bit," Chief responded. "Try shooting our way out."

"That's basically Spartan style; go guns blazing."

"Then let's do it."

Six glanced back toward the dead zombie, if that was the appropriate way to address the creature in its deceased state. _Was the creature the one who created the dream? _He asked himself. His thoughts drifted back to the dream. _Are these creatures what Carter called the Flood?_

"Six, are you coming?" Emile asked, waiting by the door. Growls and moans of the infected humans and Covenant reverberated throughout the Forerunner structure, making it seem even more like a really old horror movie.

"Yeah, I was just thinking," Six replied.

"That's new," Emile muttered, as Chief went out the door. Emile followed, blasting any of the zombies that came up behind them. "Cover our six, Six."

Six nodded, and followed suit, shooting any creatures that he came across. His mind drifting back over to the nightmare. _If the creature did create the dream, then how the hell did it know about Ashley? And the others?_

_It is of no matter…for you shall join us! _Six whipped around, as the voice came from behind him. Raising his shogun, he took aim at the approaching zombie. _Your past is your weakness, and also you downfall! _The zombie seemed to be the one talking. _And now we will claim your flesh as our own!_

"I'd like to see you try!" Six shouted as he fired the shotgun straight into the belly of the beast, tearing the decaying flesh apart and leaving it in two pieces, with the brown slime leaking out of where the internal organs were supposed to be.

"See us try what?" Chief asked, turning to face Six. "You were talking to us, right?"

"The zombie, it said-"

"Six," Emile said. "They can't talk. Those undead things are nothing more than a flesh hungry animal. The only difference is that they take the body when they kill it. And they can use guns."

"Neither of you heard it?" Six asked. It was surprising to him. The infected human had said it plain as day. Was it possible that he was the only one of the three that could hear them?

"Heard what? Nothing said nothing." Chief said. "This better not be one of those near death side effects."

"Hallucinations, flashbacks, and thinking that dead zombies can talk." Emile made a big show of throwing his hands up in defeat. "Why can't we have a decent Noble Six?"

Six huffed, and walked ahead of the others, loading a new shell into his shotgun. They thought he was crazy. He was about to show them crazy. He grabbed his Magnum off of his hip, holding his M90 in his free hand. Better to go out into the hell of a zombie apocalypse with two weapons. After all, two are better than one, right?

The door infront of him opened, and he charged out into the room. There was a bridge that was made of blue light flickering on and off, making it impossible to cross. Six fired his pistol into the first zombie he saw, managing to hit it right in the red feelers. He was pissed off at the moment, and there was nothing quite like killing to relieve that.

The Master Chief and Emile were farther behind Six, casually walking, and wondering why the zombies had been in short supply now. They came across one every minute or so, instead of the overwhelming numbers that they had faced before.

"What's up with Six?" Chief asked. He would rather have Cortana answer for him, but seeing as she wasn't here at the moment, Emile was his best option. "Has he always acted like that?"

"Well, like I said, he was the odd man out. He and Ashley usually disobeyed Carter whenever he gave them a command, usually doing things their own way." Emile paused. "Then the two got into a fight over a single one of Carter's orders, the one to get Cortana to the Autumn, and they split up. I think he never got over the initial pain, but keep in mind, he is a human in Spartan armor."

"Yeah, he gets knocked out more than a normal Spartan does," Chief interjected, causing Emile to slightly grin. The two came across an open door, Six had obviously been through here. They were on a platform that over looked a room, and dead zombies were scattered everywhere. Six stood in the middle of the room, M90 and M6D smoking.

"And that's why he's rated hyper lethal," Emile commented, taking in the scene. "Well, Six, if you can fight that good, then why haven't you done it yet?"

Six shrugged, putting his empty Magnum on his hip. He walked over to a door, while Chief and Emile jumped down. "Nice to see you so something right for a change," Emile said.

"Screw you," Six fell back in line with Chief and Emile. "How fast do we have to get out of here?"

"Pretty damn fast," Chief said. "I need to get back to Cortana."

"Need to?" Or want to?" Six asked. He couldn't resist jabbing at Chief, even about Cortana, the only thing that Chief would die for.

"Keep in mind that I am the Spartan II that could whip the hell out of you if you act insubordinate," Chief was on the verge of a killing rampage, which, as long as it was against the zombies, was a good thing.

"All right, just chill," Six said, shooting a zombie that had jumped from the roof. "We should make a run for it."

"Lead the way," Emile encouraged him. Six took off running, heading for the elevator. "I hope we don't get lost with Six leading."

Six flipped the bird as he ran, firing at the creatures that tried to attack him. Swarms of the little crawling ones flooded him, but the M90 took out several in a single shot. Six entered the elevator room, firing at the crawling zombies, while Emile and Chief took the bigger walking ones.

"You can cram that comment down your throat, Emile," Six said, pride in his voice. "I just found the way out." He walked over to the control panel, and pushed the elevator button. "I even pushed the right button this time."

Emile scoffed, when the elevator, now in broken flaming pieces, fell through the shaft and continued falling as far as they could look down.

"Well...fuck me," Six sighed. "Things just got a lot more complicated."

"You can say that again," Emile muttered, walking back to the door they had came through. "I'll lead the way this time."

"Oh, please. We're trapped in a building, and we don't know where the exit is. Zombies are waiting to eat out brains out. How can you possibly do better than I did?" Six asked, starting to feel offended. Emile usually treated him with disrespect, but when it came down to it, he always was for Six.

Emile pointed his M90 past Six's head, firing a shot that tore apart a flanking infected human. "I was the CQC squad leader. Or was going to be, if that bitch hadn't killed that trainee. That guy ruined my life."

Shit. Six got that guilty feeling inside of him. He was the one that had killed the Spartan, and cost Emile most of his career. But, he was getting payback for Ashley. But did that justify it?

The truth would set you free.

Six took in a deep breath.

This was going to suck, but it had to be done.

"Emile, I was the one who killed that trainee."

_**A/N: An extra special shoutout to my Beta Readers: Dejae and shadowblazex22.**_

_**Duh duh duh...Six told Emile! What happens next? They all go out for pizza! Just kidding! Or am I? Yes.**_

_**The goal of 100 reviews is within reach! It's the final stretch! Just 9 more reviews in the next two chapters. I think we're going to make it. Nuff said.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	33. Chapter 33: Outcasts and Revelations

_**We topped 100 reviews! Thanks to all my wonderful readers! Keep them coming in the future! Now, for those things that I promised...**_

_Chapter Thirty-Three: Outcasts and Revelations_

Getu glanced down at the human in his arms. He could tell that her leg was broken, since he could see her femur sticking out. She stared ahead, her weapon in her hands, in case he tried to threaten her. Michelle gritted her teeth in pain.

They were in the desert, heading in a direction that Michelle had instructed him to go. Getu had claimed that there were Sangheili squads out to get him. No one would check a massive desert. And even if they did, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Michelle shook her head as the world went blurry. "Can you go faster, hingehead? I've lost a lot of blood."

"I can only go so fast, human. Don't make me regret the descision to save your life."

The wounded Marine thought for a moment. She knew where a small UNSC outpost was; she had picked up the IFF tags moments ago. But she was adamant about telling the Elite, as he could be a spy or something.

Before she could say anything, Getu stopped and looked around. He could tell something was wrong. "Wait here," he said, lowering the woman to the ground gently, hiding her behind some rocks and bushes. He pulled his pistol out, and walked off.

Getu smiled when he heard the hum of a Ghost nearby. As indicated by the dust cloud rising in the distance, it was coming toward them. Looks like they had a ride. He took aim with the pistol, an fired a single shot into the front of the recon craft.

A Grunt fell from the driver seat and onto the ground, sending up dust as he hit. Getu rolled his eyes. There was no way he had killed that Grunt. It had to be faking.

Getu walked over to the "dead" Grunt, nudging its body with his hoof. The Grunt slightly opened his eyes, and then showed a sign of relief when it saw the Sangheili.

"Oh, it's Elite. Me thought human shoot at me," the Unggoy said, pushing himself up. "Me Pang'nag."

"I know. You're cowardness was legendary among our squad," Getu replied, putting the human pistol on his hip.

Pango looked up at him, getting a better look at the Elite. "Major Sel'gath! Are the rumors true? That you be wanted?"

Getu nodded sadly, walking back over to Michelle. "It's an old friend of mine," he eplained to Michelle, picking her up and walking back over to the Ghost.

"Um...you have a human on you," Pango pointed out, reaching for the Plasma Pistol that wasn't there.

"She and I are working together to kill Taal," Getu informed Pango. "You want in?"

"Wait a fucking minute," Michelle interjected. "Since when did I say that I would work with you? To kill whoever this Taal is? I just want medical help and then you two can get back on your way. If I don't kill you."

Getu felt his heart drop. Getting revenge on Taal was his goal in life now. He would even stoop as low as to seek help from humans. Getu had never cared for the Great Journey, he was more into farming.

He really needed some form of help in his plan, and a single Grunt wouldn't cut it. But still, he couldn't force her. "I will let you make your choice, human."

Michelle smiled, and brandished her M90. "Good, now let's get the hell outta here!" Getu climbed in the driver seat of the Ghost, situating Michelle in his lap. Pango clutched tightly to the back of the seat.

"Don't go fast," Pango pleaded as the Ghost started up. Getu rolled his eyes. This was the most awkward team of outcasts ever, if Michelle was an outcast.

* * *

Emile stopped dead in his tracks. "What did you say?" If looks could kill, Six would be dead. He could feel Emile's eyes through the helmet.

Another deep breath. Releasing it, Six nodded. "I was the one who did it. It's not something I'm proud of. He raped Ashley!" He was trying to justify it. But there was no possible way for him to recover from this now.

"You were the one?" Emile asked. He was pissed.

Six nodded again. "You have to understand-" Emile yelled in rage, and jumped on top of Six, taking them both to the ground. Six threw his hands up to protect himself from Emile's onslaught, but several punches got through. His shields flared, and broke, exposing his armor to the powerful punches of the III.

"How could you? You ruined my life!" Emile shouted, bringing his fists down onto Six. Before Emile could do any serious damage, Chief pulled him off and restrained him.

"Six, what you did was wrong, and you knew it," Chief said, trying to calm them down while Emile squirmed in his grasp, reaching for Six, presumably to kill him. "And Emile, it's all in the past, so get over it." The II wasn't the best person at this, but he was able to hold Emile back.

Six stood up, removing his helmet and wiping the trickle of blood running out of his nose. Both of his eyes were swollen from Emile's hits, but there wasn't any major damage.

Emile was struggling to get out of Chief's Spartan grasp, but it was to no avail. "You bastard!" He shouted at Six, who looked down in shame. Emile was out of breath, which was shocking to Chief. "I'm cool now," Emile muttered, and Chief released his grip.

Six picked up his fallen shotgun, and loaded in new shells. Emile glared at him, as he retrieved his own shotgun. "Let's go," Emile said, walking out the door. "Six, stay here and die."

Chief looked at the IV, and then to the III. Things had taken a turn for the worst. He shook his head, and followed after Emile. "Six, why?" he asked as he left. Six put his helmet back on, and stood still, watching them leave. And then watched as their tags moved farther and farther away.

"Revenge," Six pouted, standing behind in the empty elevator room. He was an outcast. Thousands of thoughts crossed his mind as he thought about what he had done. One thought stuck in his head.

_If I wasn't here tomorrow, would anybody care? _With his pistol, it would be easy to end it all.

He ruined Emile's career. He felt bad about it, but it had to be done, right? A131 raped Ashley, so it was his helmet, Six could feel a tear falling down his cheeks. "Spartans don't cry," he told himslef. "Humans do."

The moans and cries of the zombie creatures echoed in the room. "I'm no better then they are."

_Human, your past is against you. _It was that damn god-like voice again. Six had no explanation of who it was, so he just left it at that.

Dozens of the zombies fell from the roof, all converging on Six. He was going to let them kill and infect him, as he was worth nothing. Hell, Emile would be delighted to kill his zombie. Six put his M90 over his shoulder, and waited his fate.

Images of him and Ashley throughout their careers together flashed in his mind. Everything from the time they first met to the last time he saw her. Six's last thoughts.

It was at this moment that Six relized that his true fight was not with the Covenant, or these creatures, but with his past. It was holding him back. If he left his past behind, and focused on the future, he could change. But that would mean that he would abandon all hope of ever finding Ashley again. It would be worth it, right?

Six's hands flew toward his grenades, grabbing one in each hand and using the opposite hand to pull the pins. He tossed them into the massive zombie mosh pit, and grabbed his shotgun.

He ran out of the room, with several zombies behind him. The grenades detonated, killing a good third of them. His shotgun blasted down two more. Thousands upon thousands of the creatures fell to the floor, and Six knew there would be no possible way for him to take them all on alone. So, he did the most human thing possible when faced with an impossible situation. He ran.

* * *

Chief and Emile were walking casually along, leaving Six far behind them. The Master Chief was a little uneasy about the events that had transpired.

"Should we go back? After all, he is a Spartan," he told Emile.

"After what he fucking did? Get real." That was the most Emile had said since they had departed from Six.

"If we go back, then I'll get the Fleet Admiral to put you in charge of a CQC team. Then it'll be all fixed," Chief suggested. He really hoped to bargain with Emile, as they would need Six. For sniper bait, you know?

"It won't all be fixed. You can't bring her back." Emile stopped in his tracks, mentally cursing himself for the slip of the tounge. But, he held his poker face, and continued.

Chief knew it. There was something that Emile was hiding. "You want to go into more detail? Anything could help."

"You're starting to sound like Cortana," Emile replied, voice straight and unchanged. He fiddled with his pistol, pulling the clip in and out. "And no, I don't want to talk about it." Emile's voice was wavering.

"Fine. Then I'll take a guess, and you tell me how close I am," Chief said. "I think that you were in love with someone who is gone now, and you can't get her back." Emile remained silent, and tilted his head forward.

"If that's the case, then Six knows how you feel," Chief continued. "I know how you feel."

Emile released a deep breath, and let it out. "It was right after Six killed A131. She was real close to him, and that made me mad. When he was killed, she couldn't bear to be without him, and she killed herself."

Chief nearly threw his fist into the air. He made a breakthrough. Wait, throw his fist in the air? He was starting to act like Six.

"Who was she?"

Emile sighed again. "I don't want to tell you, but it looks like I've got no other choice." Another deep breath. "Her name was Victoria. Victoria A142."

Chief nodded. "So you were in love with her, and she is dead. You're just like Six."

Emile shot him a look. "Six and Ashley actually loved each other. Always kissing when they thought no one was looking. I didn't get any of that."

"So you were jealous," Chief said. He ejected the clip from his MA5 and examined the ammo.

Emile growled. "Why does everyone always have to interrogate me? I just want to be left alone."Like you said, it's all in the past."

Chief sighed. "So this means we're going back for Six? It wasn't all his fault. He could have known that that girl was going to kill herself. He didn't know that it would have ruined you life."

"I guess so," Emile gave in. "I'm not going to talk to Six, though."

Chief sighed. He was done trying to be a peace maker. He was designed to kill. "I'll go get Six, and you find the way out."

"Run!"

Chief and Emile turned at the new voice, which was Six running through the halls of the Forerunner structure.

"It's like that old movie, Beetlejuice or whatever," Emile commented. "We said his name too many times."

Using his Spartan reflexes, Chief was able to catch Six's arm, and pull him to a stop. "I think that you owe Emile an apology."

"So, the Master Chief has become Dr. Phil. Great. But, can it wait till later?" Six asked.

"Why?"

Six pointed down the hall that he had come from, and all the zombies crowding the hallway. "I think that might be a good reason."

Emile led the charge out as Chief gunned the zombies down from the back of the line. "This is insane," he muttered, mowing down several more with automatic fire. "And who the hell was Dr. Phil?"

"Forget it," Six replied, watching Emile activate a light bridge that connected two rooms. "Let's get the fuck outta here!" As he ran across, three zombies jumped onto the glowing blue bridge, only to be shot down by Emile as soon as they hit the hardlight. Their guts splattered against the bridge, limbs falling off the edge.

"I'll cover you!" Emile shouted to Chief, aiming his M90 toward the group of zombies flanking them. "Once you're over, Six'll deactivate the bridge thingy!"

"Hey! You know I suck with this technology," Six complained. But still, as Chief dove onto the platform he and Emile were on, he pressed every button on there. Fortuantly, the lights remained on. The bridge faded, and the zombies fell to the floor, but jumped back up again.

"Keep going!" Chief shouted, firing his MA5 into the closest creature. It fell to the ground, slime oozing from the new holes in its body. The trio ran back into a room with an elevator, which was lifting up.

Six noted a piece of weaponry that lay on the ground mere feet from him. Apparently, a Marine had dropped it. He put his foot down on the tripod, and pulled the machine gun turrent off. "I'll cover you!" Six shouted, turning the turrent toward the entrance, which was flooded with zombies.

Chief and Emile jumped on the rising elevator, leaving Six to face the zombies alone.

The triple barrels began to spin, and emitting rapid fire bullets, tearing through the quickly approaching zombies. Six looked up as the lift rose into the roof, watching as Chief and Emile rose into safety. He smiled under his helmet, hoping that his sacrifice was enough to make Emile respect him more.

The turrent clicked empty, causing the VI to curse. He tossed the turrent away, and pulled his M90, and prepare for a final stand. Six set his helmet cam to where it would record and send the footage to Chief, Emile and Cortana.

"This is Spartan B312, sending a final transmission. Emile, I hope saving your life was worth it. Chief, I don't know what to say to you." With that, Six aimed at the oncoming zombies. _This one is for Ashley! _

Blood and infected guts splattered against the wall as the buckshot ripped the zombie apart. Six had only eleven shots left in the M90, meaning that this was going to end bad.

_You can not defeat us human, _said the distorted voice of the zombies in his head.

"You wanna fucking bet?" Six shouted as he pumped another two shells into the incoming onslaught. Four creatures fell to the ground, limbs tore off and scattered everywhere.

Before Six could get another shot off, he was knocked to the floor by a powerful smack from a zombies. He threw his foot at it, tearing away a section of decayed flesh exposing the Sangheili ribcage.

The mutated Elite jumped on him, preparing for the final strike, but it never made it.

* * *

_Earth, May 23, 2534_

_The couple was sitting in the adoption agency's waiting room, after signing papers to adopt a new child. They had selected a male, born on May 17, 2533. _

_"What are we going to name him?" The husband asked. "On his file, there is no name."_

_The wife thought for a minute. "I think that we should name him after my father, Talley."_

_"Oh," the husband said. "I wanted to name him after my father, Hilbert."_

_"Then why don't we do this?" The wife suggested. "We take part of each name and put them together." _

_"Hilley? I'm not fond of that name," the husband admitted. "It sounds too weird."_

_"Then Tallert?"_

_"Hm...I guess that will work, even though it's still out there," the husband sighed. "What about a middle name?"_

_"Since he's going to take your family name, as I did when we were married, I'll get to pick that."_

_"Sounds reasonable."_

_"Then our new child shall be Tallert Michael Phillips," the wife said, and she smiled. "It still seems like we're going to raise someone else's child. We are, but after the first..."_

_"Listen, it's not our fault," the husband tried to comfort her. Their first child had died at the age of six. "Kelly died of a genetic disease. There was nothing we could have done." He sighed. "What does that file say about Tallert's real parents?"_

_"Not much," the wife replied. "Doesn't even list last names. All that is listed is Joseph and Ashley."_

* * *

_**A/N: shadowblazex22, arbiter6784, and Dejae beta-readed this chapter, as ususal. (I kow that readed isn't a real word.)**_

_**Now, lets aim for 125 reviews. **_

_**Anywho, this has got to be the most dramatic chapter thus far. **_

_**Halo 5 update! I read not too long ago that it will be for the Xbox 720, which I'm sure that all of you know. But I just read that the 720 has to be connected to the internet to use. **_

_**That's crap for all the offline Halo players! My internet is decent, but most likely not able to keep the 720 online. Sigh. It would be harder than trying to bribe my friend for his Halo 4 DLC codes. That's hard enough. **_

_**But having to keep an Xbox connected to the internet for long periods of time just to play on it? That's bull. Perhaps we should start a petition for 343 to make Halo 5 for the 360...**_

_**Anyway...all that drabble aside...**_

_**Peace out!**_


	34. Chapter 34: To the Library

_Chapter Thirty-Four: To the Library_

The zombie charged at the fallen form of Six, raising its mutated arm for the final strike. Six swung his foot into the torso of the zombie in an attempt to stop it, but it smashed his metal boot away with it other hand.

An explosion echoed in the room, sending the zombie into the wall, in five different pieces. Six felt a hand grab him by the chest armor, and start to pull him onto the elevator. But that had already went up, right?

Six looked up, and saw the one face...er...visor, that he wasn't expecting. Emile. Nearly doing a double take, Six slowly stood up. "So," he said. "You came back for me. I thought you wanted me dead."

Emile huffed as the elevator went up into the shaft, blocking any access except from above. "I have reasons."

"You want to share?" Six asked, as he pulled his DMR off his back, and into his hands. He had only three full clips left, thanks to that zombie stealing his gun.

Emile sighed. "You had no idea what was going to happen when you killed him, you were just acting on instinct, and you wanted payback on that bastard's ass." He loaded three new shells into his M90. "It wasn't your fault."

"Let's forget that ever happened," Six suggested, as the elevator reached the top. "Leave it in the past."

Chief was waiting for them, MA5 lowered in his hands. "What took you so long? I was about to go down there myself."

Six looked past him, and saw the Marines gathered in a circle, talking about this and that. "Finally, actually living, non-infected humans!" He shouted.

"This is Echo 419. Chief, is that you? I lost your signal when you dissapeared into the structure. What's going on down there?" She wasn't really giving them a chance to respond. "I'm tracking movement all over the place!"

"Well," Six said, before Foehammer could continue. "It's just your average, everyday zombie infestation. Nothing to be concerned about."

He walked over to the Marines. "What's up?"

"Those things ambushed us. We were heading to the RV point, and...and...we have to get outta here!" More or less, that was the truth.

"There's a large tower a few hundred meters from your current position," Foehammer informed them. "Find a way above the fog and foilage canopy and I can move in and pick you up."

Six took charge. "You heard her, Marines. We're going through the jungle, and to a tower. Stick close to a Spartan, we'll protect you." The Marines let out a few celebratory whoops, before grabbing whatever weapon they could get their hands on.

Flashlights lit up circles of foilage as the group trekked through the dense jungle. The Marines were all near a Spartan, but most were gravitating toward the Master Chief.

"You know," Six said, breaking the tense silence. "We should all have a zombie plan, in case we get separated."

"Just blow them to hell," Chief said. "That's mine."

"Same here," Emile joined in.

"Really, just one plan?" Six asked. "I have thirty-seven."

"Wow, someone has no life," Emile spat out. He aimed his shotgun around, looking for something to shoot. "I'm willing to bet all of them use me or Cheif as bait for you to get away."

"That's only for thirty-six of them," Six replied, glancing around at the panicked faces of the Marines, all green through the night-vison in his helmet.

"Well at least on one of the plans, you care enough about us," Chief chimed in his opinion.

"Actually, the last one involved me getting infected just so I can infect you two," The IV replied, smug smile under his helmet.

"Then I get the pleasure of blowing you to hell," Emile shot back, holding his M90 in one hand and using the other to grab his kukri. The coast seemed clear enough at the moment.

A few moans and groans made them look up, and they saw the incoming zombies.

Two were blown to pieces by Emile before they had even hit the ground. The Marines fired their automatic MA5s into the falling horde, but Chief saw the smaller crawling ones on the ground. He unleashed a punishing volley of fire into them, killing every last one.

"Run and gun!" Six shouted, breaking out into a sprint, firing at every zombie that crossed his path. The Marines followed the example, shooting as they went. The tower loomed in the distance, encouraging them all to fight harder.

Six reached the tower first, and jumped up onto a curving pipe thing that went into the ground, using it to provide sniper cover for the other UNSC personnel. Chief did the same, while Emile stood on the ground, watching as the Marines massacred the last zombie.

"Well, that was easy," Six commented.

"Greetings."

All three Spartans turned their weapons to the source of the voice. It was a floating metal ball with a blue eye in the middle.

"I am the Moniter of Installation 04. I am 343 Guilty Spark."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lightbulb," Six said sarcastically, keeping the floating ball in his DMR's sights.

Spark ignored the Spartan's comment, and continued. "Someone has released the Flood. My function is to prevent it from leaving this installation, but I require your assistance."

"Oh, that's just perfect," Emile groaned, lowering his shotgun. The thing hadn't attacked them yet, so that was a plus, right?

"Come, this way."

Six, Chief, and Emile disapeared in a cloumn of yellow light. Six felt lighted headed as his body dematerialized and vanished. One thing was left in his thoughts; _So they are called the Flood..._

"Spartans, I've lost you're signals! Where'd ya go? Chief? Chief?" Foehammer pressed every comm button in the pilot seat of the Pelican, but was unable to establish a connection.

Tallert put his hand on her shoulder. "Relax, they're Spartans. They've come back from worse than this, right?"

_**A/N: Thanks to Dejae, shadowblazex22, and arbiter6784 for taking time out of their lives to beta this chapter.**_

_**Sorry it's short, but I'm stalling before the Library mission. I hate that one.**_

_**Anywho, today's my birthday! Anyone want to take a guess at how old I am?**_

_**But alas, **_

_**Peace out!**_


	35. Chapter 35: Tomatoes

_Chapter Thirty-Five: Tomatoes_

Cortana sat in the Control Room, arms wrapped around her folded legs. She simply reviewed the events that had occured in the past few hours. She wasn't liking what she saw.

Six hadn't really mourned or even seemed slightly mad when the Marine had been killed by the Hunter on the way to the Control Room. He simply shrugged it off and stole the DMR.

Sighing, Cortana began to think. If Six was becoming more of a Spartan than a human, then she lost almost all of her hope. Her hope was to make John into a human, rather than a killing machine. She relied on Six's human side to contribute some help, and if Six was Spartanized, than she was in this fight alone.

Having watched the drama unfolding on the screens in front of her, each linked to one of the Spartan's HUDs, she had no idea what to think. This parasite was spreading, and she was probably the only one on this entire ring that knew how to stop it. Well, and the Moniter of Installation 04, of course. But he was feeding the Spartans bullshit.

Cortana sighed, mind wandering to the confrontation when the Spartans and Moniter arrived here with the Index, planning on activating Halo. She had researched the ring with the data supplied in the Control Room, and knew how it really worked.

Six was like a tomato. Once you got to his inside, he was all mushy.

"Six," Cortana muttered to herself, "Just be human." The AI knew that his past was what made him a human. His need for revenge, falling in love, and his short temper that made him act like a child sometimes.

She hoped he would hang on to his past, and never let it die.

...

Chief, Emile and Six materialized in a Forerunner building, with Spark just ahead of them.

"This is the Library," Spark explained. "The Ind-"

"I don't see no damn books," Six interrupted. "Libraries have books."

"They're probably ebooks now. After all, it is the twenty-sixth century," Emile commented taking in the vast size of the building.

"We must collect the Index before we can-"

"DMR!" Six shouted randomly, cutting the Moniter off. His voice echoed in the vast halls. "I've always wanted to yell in a library," he explained.

Right then, Flood infection forms jumped out of the vents in the wall, followed closely by combat forms. Some even had guns as they charged at the Spartans.

"And thats what happens when you yell in a library," Emile said, agitated.

"I'd hate to see what would happen when you have overdue books," SIx commented, taking aim down the sights of his DMR. His first shot nailed a combat form right in the head, knocking the former human's head off. However, it still charged at them.

"This is how you do it," Emile smirked, blasting the combat form's whole torso away with his M90 when it was close enough. He cocked it, and blew an ex-Sangheili to hell.

Six reached for his own shotgun, swapping it for his DMR. "I'll keep that in mind," he scoffed, taking out a mob of infection forms in a single blow.

Chief was silent through the entire opening dialouge. But now he mowed down combat form after combat form with unrelenting waves of MA5 automatic fire. "Thanks a lot, Six," the II muttered, tossing an empty clip away.

"You're very welcome," Six replied, voice dripping wih sarcasm. Another combat form exploded into slimy gore as the IV pulled the trigger. "But this is kinda out of hand."

"Puzzling," the Moniter said. "It seems you have brought quite ineffective weapons to combat the Flood, despite the containment protocols."

"Oh, shove it up your ass," Emile snapped, shooting the last combat form in the room. They followed 343 Guilty Spark through the facility for an hour, and they reached what appeared to be the exact same hallway that they had been through fifty times.

"Okay, like what the hell?" Six asked, folding his arms. Both of his weapons were across his back. The Master Chief had picked up a M41 Rocket Launcher, holding it over one shoulder, while his other hand held a M6D. Emile, well, he was quite estatic. His M90 was on his back, and he was carrying nothing other than a flamethrower. No one knows where he got it exactly.

"I beg your pardon?" the Moniter replied, stopping in mid-air and turning to him.

"This room looks like the other three-thousand we've been through," Six whined. "Now how far is it to the friggin' Index?"

"Reclaimer, there are only seven-hundred and seventy-seven rooms in this facility," the Moniter answered. "And only three-hundred and forty-three look like this hallway." He floated around them. "We still have about five miles, in your human terms, to the Index."

Six groaned and dropped to the floor. "I'm tired. I can't go on. Leave me..."

"No problem," Emile interjected, and started walking away alongside Chief.

"That seems to be the best strategy," the Moniter said. "You are the most under-equipped of the three of you, and you can serve as a distraction for the Flood, as you have less skill than the other Reclaimers."

Six stood up. "Gee, fine. No need to make fun of me."

"Who's making fun?" Spark went on. "I am merely stating the truth."

Emile snickered, and Chief just smiled, although it was unknown to all others in the room.

"Laugh it up, Lightbulb," Six muttered. He looked the Moniter straight in the eyes...er, eye. "Someday, I'll get in a Warthog and run over you like a tomato can."

"I highly doubt that," Spark replied, cheerily as ever. "And what is a tomato?"

...

Getu spread his mandibles wide as he yawned, glancing up at the stars. Night had fallen, and the outcasts had stopped for the night, as Covenant Phantoms and Spirits were patrolling in the darkness.

Fortunatly, they had found both a wrecked Covenant Corvette and a crashed UNSC Bumblebee escape pod, and had salvaged on some supplies. Getu now had two fully charged Plasma Rifles, and an Energy Sword. Pango had a Needler, and they found a methane refilling station on the wrecked ship. Michelle had taken out all the medical supplies, and mde herself a splint, and bandaged wounds.

Pango sat in front of their fire, watching the flickering flames. "Where are we going?" He asked the former Major.

"To...to...human territ...ory," Michelle weakly answered for him, still slightly out from all the blood loss. She was leaning against a log, shotgun across her lap.

Getu nodded. "What she said." He picked up a stick and poked one of the three cans sitting next to the fire. "Is it done, human?"

"Yeah, what the hell," she replied, holding her hand out. Getu placed one of the cans in her hand, and Michelle drank from it, hoping to regain some strength from the meal.

Pango had some trouble. He took off his methane mask, chugged some of the red juice, and put his mask back on. "It taste like a...pugte."

"What in sam's hell is a pugte?" Michelle asked, voice raspy.

"A fruit on Balaho," Pango said. "It was red, and juicy."

Michelle nodded. "We humans call those tomatoes." She gulped down another mouthful, with some of the red juice sliding down her chin. "What's wrong, hingehead?" She asked, noticing that the Major hadn't even drank from his tomato juice yet. "Not hungry?"

"My lack of a lower jaw prevents me from drinking in that manner," Getu replied, using a bringing the can up to his mouth. He put his mandibles on the sides of the can, and tilted his head back, dumping the contents into his mouth. "Problem solved."

"Most of problem solved," Pango interjected, pointing to the large amounts of tomato juice running down his armor.

"Forget it." Getu leaned back on the UNSC back pack that he was using as a pillow.

Michelle sighed. "I'm glad that tomorrow, I'll be rid of the two of you fuckers. You can go off to wherever the fuck you're going, and even banging each other if you like."

Getu sat back up. "What is this 'banging' you speak of?" He cocked his head. "I've never heard that term before, human."

Rolling her eyes, Michelle looked at the Unggoy. He also seemed interested in this conversation. "The horizontal tango."

They just stared at her, not getting it.

"Slippin' it to 'em."

They still had blank faces.

Getu interrupted. "Perhaps you should give us a demonstration, human. We're not knowledgeable of your human ways."

This time, Michelle had the blank stare. "Hell no." She sighed, putting her head in her hands. "It means mating, to some extent."

Getu scoffed. "I would never mate with an Unggoy."

"Me neither," Pango agreed. "Wait, me would. Me not mate with Sangheili."

Michelle decided to get some sleep. She kicked their fire out, and curled up under her scavenged ODST blanket. Getu was staring into the night sky, hands folded on his chest. "Something wrong?" Michelle asked, despite the fact that she really didn't care.

Getu rolled his head over on the backpack to look at her. "You've been in the stars, right?"

"I've been in space."

"That's what I meant." He turned his head back to the stars, and the ring that curved above them. "We have little chance to get off this ring."

"I know." Michelle felt something she hadn't felt towards Elites before. Even she didn't understand it. She was seeing the Elite and Grunt as friends. It must be the loss of blood.

"My family is gone," Getu said. "I have nothing to live for."

Michelle thought back to her own family. Her mother, father, and older brother, who was an ODST somewhere. She hasn't seen them in forever, and they probably didn't know if she was alive or not.

"I'll take the first watch," Getu announced, using his plasma dagger in his wrist to open another can of tomato juice.

"Put another on, and I'll keep you company," Michelle said. "I won't be getting much sleep tonight.

If only she knew how accurate those words were.

_**A/N: Thanks to Dejae and shadowblazex22 for beta reading. **_

_**This should be the last chapter up for a couple of weeks, for any of my stories. I hate to do it, but since today is my last day of school for the summer, (hell yeah!) I'm going to take a writing break. **_

_**Also, my Xbox broke, so, yay. Have to get that fixed. I had just ordered a 250gb hard drive, and it came the day after my Slim broke. Double yay.**_

_**So. **_

_**Peace.**_


	36. Chapter 36: Truth or Dare

_Chapter Thirty-Six: Truth or Dare_

Chief squeezed the trigger, unleashing a deadly volley of bullets into the approaching combat forms. "Six, Emile, how are you holding up?" Chief had sent them out to scavenge bodies for ammo, and with such convienince, a door had closed in between them, separating Chief from them.

"Oh, we're only completely screwed, low on ammo, and outnumbered," Six replied over the comm. "We're fine. How 'bout you?"

"Standing my ground. Lightbulb went off to open the door," Chief said, ejecting an empty clip from his rifle. "Should be open in a few minutes."

Six sighed, and aimed the M90 in his left hand at the swarming infection forms crawling towards them. The scattered shot tore them to pieces.

Emile was lighting up all the combat forms, starting with the ones that shot back at them with hijacked weaponary. His Flamethrower was running low on fuel. "Almost out," he said. "I'll need my shotgun back."

Groaning, Six shot another combat form with Emile's shotgun. He was dual weilding his own and his comrade's weapons. "You sure? I can use all the ammo in your's first, then."

"Yeah, so?" Emile asked. "I'd rather use my knife. You really need to get your hands on a new one, Six." He torched a carrier form, popping it and roasting the infection forms inside. "Your old one is still stuck in a dead Elite somewhere."

"Yeah, I know," Six said. The door creaked as it slid back into the wall, allowing them to be reunited with the Master Chief.

Spark sent Sentinals to help the Reclaimers mop up the last of the Flood in the area. Their beams burned through the infected beings with extreme ease, mowing down all the Flood in the area.

Six tossed Emile his shotgun back, putting his own on his back. He folded his arms and leaned against a wall as Chief and Emile dug through the pockets of the dead Flood, looking for any sort of useful items. "How's your flamer holding up?" He asked Emile.

"Pretty good," Emile said. "It takes those zombies out quite well. The ammo's not a problem, it needs gas, and I got plenty."

Shaking his head sadly, Six face-palmed. "Think about that sentence."

Emile thought about it. "What's wrong with it?"

"Just let that one go," Chief urged, putting clips for his MA5 in various pouches on his armor.

Shrugging, Emile took lead as the walked on. It was quiet. Too quiet.

"It's quiet," Six commented. "Too qui-"

"Reclaimers." The Moniter rejoined the group, cheery sounding as always, as if there was something he knew that the Spartans didn't. "We're almost there."

"Let me guess, just a few more long, boring, abandoned hallways," Six said.

"Actaully, there not abandoned. Flood are occupying the upcoming rooms."

Six groaned. "Of course they are! Why wouldn't they be?"

"Man up, Six," Chief ordered. "Or else we might have to use you as bait."

The Spartans reached a ninty-degree corner, and Six peeked around to see what he could see. Several bullets from a BR55 hit the wall next to his head, forcing him to pull his head back.

"How many?" Chief asked, preping his gun for battle. Emile hefted up the flamethrower, ready to send as many Flood to hell as possible.

"How many zombies are in a bitch-load of zombies?" Six said, reaching for the M90 on his back. "Needless to say, this is going to suck a lot."

With a loud creak, a door rose up from the floor, cutting them off from the Flood. "Wait here," the Moniter ordered, floating off into one of the vents in the wall. "Several Sentinals will clean out the Flood ahead, so you can conserve ammunition for your primitive and quite insufficent weapons."

"Please let me shoot that flying tin can," Six pleaded to Chief as soon as the Moniter was out of earshot.

Chief sighed as he leaned his rifle against the wall. He could hear the moans and groans of the Flood as they engaged the attacking Sentinals. "We need something to do while we wait."

"Truth or dare," Emile suggested, setting his flamethrower on the ground.

Six nodded as he leaned against the wall, next to Chief's MA5, and slid to the ground. The Master Chief shrugged.

"I'll start," Emile looked at Six. "Truth or dare?"

Six smiled. He'd pick the easiest of the two. "Truth."

Emile tilted his head back, deep in thought. "What was you most interesting experience with civilians? Go into as much detail as possible."

Leaning his head back against the wall in thought, Six poured through all of his memories of civilians; evacs, evacs, and more evacs. Chief and Emile were staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"You know," Six said after a minute, "It would have to be the time I walked in on some civilians having a threesome, and-"

"Okay," Emile interrupted. "No more detail."

"Yeah, it was kinda awkward. You look up for a minute, and there is a Spartan in you bedroom."

Emile shook his head. "Chief your turn. Truth or dare?"

"As much as I hate to follow in the footsteps of Noble Six, I'll go with truth."

Emile smiled. This was what he had been waiting for. "Right after Six made his confession, and I admitted I lost someone I loved, you said you felt the same way." Chief didn't like where this was going. "Explain," Emile smirked.

"Wait," Six butted in. "The Master Chief was in love? Why didn't you tell me this?"

Reaching into his pouch, Emile removed a Coke and an MRE. "Here," he said, tossing them to Six. "Now shut up." He fixed the intimidating gaze of the skull on his visor toward Chief. "Spill the beans."

"Do I have to?"

"It's the rules," Six said, through a mouthful of MRE.

Emile sighed, and settled for getting one thing. "Just a name."

Chief rolled his eyes. "Kelly."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Emile folded his arms.

"Truth or dare, Emile?" Six asked, as he opened a private channel with Chief to discuss what Emile would have to do with either choice.

"Dare."

After a few seconds of silence, Chief nodded. Six relayed their decision. "We dare you to take off all you armor and face the Flood out there with nothing other than a tree branch," Six said, standing up and stomping on his empty Coke can.

Emile glared at him. "It has to be a reasonable dare. And where in the hell would we get a tree branch in here?"

Chief shook his head. "You lost."

Six smirked. "It wouldn't have been that hard, would it?"

Drawing his kukri from its sheath, Emile moved towards Six. "I'm gonna cut you up someday," He jabbed the knife into the wall next to Six's head.

"Sore loser?" Six asked, and getting kicked in the gut by Emile.

"Well...that was rather interesting to watch," The Moniter said, as he made his presence in the room known. "I must admit that humanity has changed quite a bit since I last saw them." He floated over to the holographic glyph in midair on the door, opening it. "I still wish I had a full company of Prometheans."

"What in the hell is a Promethean?" Six pushed himself off the ground, brushing the little dust that had gathered on his armor off.

"Oh, nothing. You will never encounter them, so it does not matter," the Moniter replied, as the door creaked open. "It is not that much farther to the Index. And then we'll head back to the Control Room to activate Halo."

"Yay," Six muttered, in a completely bored tone. "Emile, why did you give me that Coke? Now I feel hyper."

"You know that old saying," Emile said. "A Coke a day keeps the Six at bay. For a few minutes." After a pause, "Why the hell are you addicted to them, anyway?"

"Well, bacl on New Alexandria, I was feeling kinda thirsty, and I saw a vending machine-"

"Okay, forget it," Emile interjected. "I honestly don't care about your life."

Flipping Noble Four off, Six walked ahead of Chief and Emile, deciding that it would be better to be away from them. He had gotten lost in his own thoughts. He thought about Ashley, and how he would never see her again. It pained him, and that was why he decided to let his past go. His thinking processed were cut short when Emile spoke.

"That guy really got screwed over," he said, rolling a body over with his gray metal boot. The human body was mangled, torn, and completely unidentifyable.

"Oh yes, that is the first Reclaimer I had to attempt to retrieve the Index," the Moniter said, floating down to look at the body.

Chief reached for the dogtags, tearing them off the mutilated neck and reading them. "Marvin Mobuto." He glanced down at the body, seeing the UNSC standard issue armor. "He was a Marine."

"Damn," Six exclaimed, elongating the word. "A single Marine got this far, while we struggled and we're Spartans?"

"He was one tough son of a bitch," Emile admitted, treating the dead human with slightly more respect. Slightly more.

Chief tucked the dogtags into his pouches, and they continued on, reaching a large room, with a bridge leading out over an elevator shaft. In the middle of the giant hole, the bridges lead to a central area. The Index. Oh yeah, let's not forget about the nearly infinite number of Flood around it.

"Wow, that drawfs the other mobs we've seen," Six noted, pulling his shotgun off his back and over-dramatically cocking it.

The first wave hit with force. Chief fired his hijacked Rocket Launcher into a group of carrier forms, while Emile kept him covered with the Flamethrower.

Six had his M90 in one hand, and DMR in the other. It was hard to dual wield the weapons, but he was managing. He fired five shots into a carrier form several yards away, watching it pop and send infection forms scurrying around the place. A shotgun blast later, that problem was resolved.

Chief dropped the empty M41, switching to his MA5. Automatic rounds tore through the combat forms approaching from his side, while Emile was being overwhelmed by infection forms, and apparently he needed to reload, since he wasn't firing. He was kicking them, which allowed some to climb up on him, which Emile punched off.

Grunting in annoyance, Chief ejected his current clip, and loaded a new one into the Assualt Rifle, and firing twenty-nine of sixty shots into the infections forms at the III's feet.

"Thanks," Emile muttered, as he began to reload his shotgun, letting the Flamer rest on the dull metal floor.

"DMR is empty," Six informed the other Spartans, as he backed up to them while defending himself with his M90. "You know, we've taken out at least thirty, and we haven't even made a dent."

"We need better weapons," Chief stated, mowing down two combat Elites. The Spartans were taking fire, but they were out in the open, with no cover. Using the 'if it shoots at you, kill it first' method, they were holding their ground.

"Here Emile," Six handed Noble Four his shotgun, and reached for something in his back pouch.

Emile took Six's M90, holding his in his other hand. He fired both weapons into different oncoming combat forms, effectively ripping them into pieces. Chief took out a carrier form long range, sending infection forms out. "What about you, Six?" Chief asked, noting Six didn't have any usable weapons in sight.

"Remember how we would always come back from a mission with Energy Swords, and then they would dissappear?" Six pulled a hilt from the pouch, flicking his wrist to activate the plasma blades. "I took one of them."

"Give 'em hell," Chief ordered turning back to the last few combat forms running at him. A few short controlled bursts took one out, while the other two were close. Chief swung his rifle forward using it to smash the infected Elite. On contact, he heard bones breaking, which was a good sign. He executed a roundhouse kick, taking its head off. With a few bullets from the MA5, the infected fell to the floor, gore splattered around it.

The other combat form jumped on the Master Chief, dragging him to the ground and knocking his weapon away. It brought its arm up to strike, but Chief grabbed it by the wrist and tore the fragile arm off.

A kukri hit the ground nest to him, and without a second thought, Chief grabbed the knife with his free hand and stabbed the infection form on top of him repeatedly in the back. He rolled the body off of him, and stood up. All around them, dead infection forms were on the ground, motionless.

Emile held his hand out, and Chief returned the kukri. Emile sheathed it as he put his shotgun on his back. "That wasn't too bad, right?"

Chief shrugged. "I've been in slightly worse," he said, as he crouched to pick up his MA5. He looked at the ammo counter, and saw 42. Deciding that it was enough for now, he put the weapon on his back.

Six walked over, with fists covered in ooze from the infection forms. "Guess what?" Before anyone answered, he continued. "The sword ran empty half-way through the fight. I had to use my fists."

"So what?" Emile asked. He started towards the Index. "Let's get the thing so we can get out of here." When they reached the Index, the protecive barrier was still around it, preventing the Spartans from getting it.

"The energy barrier surrounding the Index will deactivate when we reach the ground floor," the Moniter informed them, as the platform began to move downwards. It was going to be a while.

"Um...Six?" Emile walked over and stood next Six. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"About what?" Six was holding his empty DMR, looking through the scope.

Emile hesistated for a second. "About Ashley." Chief looked over a them, evesdropping on the conversation. "But, if you don't-"

"It's alright," Six said. "She's dead. There's nothing we can do about that now. What was the question?"

"Nothing," Emile replied. "Is that how you really feel?"

"It is now."

Behind his visor, Emile raised his eyebrows and turned toward Chief. "Well, that's not what I expected," Chief said over a a private channel. Emile agreed with a nod.

The platform reached the bottom. The energy barrier around the Index deactivated, allowing access. "You may now retrieve the Index," the Moniter said, floating around it.

Chief reached out and took it, but the Moniter stole it away. "Protocol requires that I take possesion of the Index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulerable to infection. The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we reach the Control Room and activate the Installation."

Six looked up as once more he was eveloped in a yellow light light, and teleported away from the Library. _Ashley's dead. Deal with it, _he told himself. _Ashley is dead._

**Location:Unknown**

**Time:Unknown**

_Four figures are stand on a rocky ledge overlooking a ruined city, destroyed in the war. Two of the figures are wearing MJOLNIR, indicating they are Spartans. The other two appear to be normal humans._

_One of the Spartans is the only female in the group, and she seems to be the leader of this group. Her armor is orange, and is UNSC Air Assault class. She is holding her helmet under her shoulder, revealing long red hair, and her face sports green eyes. _

_She is staring out at the remains of the city, and sighs, lost in her memories. "Let's move," the Spartan says to the group. "They'll be here any minute." She puts her helmet on with a single thought. _

_There was nothing I could've done, though I tried. Six is dead._

_**A/N: shadowblazex22 and arbiter6784 and Dejae beta-read this chapter.**_

_**For the readers of The Journey Ahead, I am rewriting it, as you may know from the earlier post of the newest chapter. Another Day, Another War will be finished first, before I start publishing the rewrite of TJA.**_

_**Peace.**_


	37. Chapter 37: Betrayed

_Chapter Thirty-Seven: Betrayed_

The Spartans materialized on the bridge in the Control Room, along with the Moniter who was going into detail on the Flood and which organisms they could consume.

"...which means that organism with suffient mass and cognitive capability is a potential vector."

Chief ignored the flying metal ball, and stared at the console, where Cortana was. On the inside, he was relieved to be able to have her chip in his possesion, but he wasn't going to share that information with the others.

"Is something wrong?" Spark asked, floating along side the Spartan. Six and Emile stood in the background, watching and waiting for anything to happen.

Chief shook his head. "No, nothing."

The Moniter perked up, apparently excited to wipe the Flood off his giant ring. "Splendid! Shall we?" He went over to the terminal, and turned to face the humans.

"Unfortunatly, my usefulness in this particular endeavor has come to an end," he explained, watching as Chief strolled up to the terminal where Cortana was. He was slightly worried, as she hadn't made her presence known.

"Great," Six chimed into the conversation. "Now can I kill the lightbulb?" he asked Chief. The II despondently shook his head.

The Moniter went on, "Protocol does not allow units with my classification to preform a task as important as the reedification of the Index and the Core. That final step is reserved for you, Reclaimer." He materialized the Index, and let Chief take it.

Hesistantly, Chief put the Index into the respective slot on the holograhpic panel in front of him, and three green energy rings shot out of the terminal, forming a kind of light barrier.

Spark looked around at them. "Odd, that wasn't suppose to happen."

"Oh really?" Cortana appeared above the terminal, glowing green like never before. She sent out a shock wave that knocked the Moniter to the floor.

"Cortana," Chief said, looking up at his AI. It had been several hours since he had last seen her, and he felt that that was too long.

Cortana, however, didn't seem to be as happy to see him. "I've spent the last twelve hours cooped up in here, watching you toady about, helping that thing get ready to slit our throats."

"Hold on now," Chief interjected. "He's a friend."

"Funny, I've never seen him as a friend," Six interrupted. Emile looked over at him, and then smacked the back of Six's helmet.

"Oh," Cortana went on, putting her hand over her mouth in fake shock. "I didn't realize. He's you pal, is he? Your chum? Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do?"

"Now I've seen him as a bastard," Six said, and once again, Emile smacked the back of his helmet.

"Yes," Chief replied defensively. "Activate Halo's defenses, and wipe out the Flood, which is why we brought the Index to the Control Room."

"You mean this?" Cortana waved around the holographic Index in her holographic hand.

"A construct?" Spark asked in real shock as he recovered from the shock wave. "That is absolutely unacceptable!"

Cortana glared at him. "Sod off!"

"What impertinance...I shall purge you at once!" The Moniter floated up to Cortana's eye level.

Holding up the Index, Cortana cracked a smile. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"How...how...how dare you?" The Moniter was stumped. "I'll-"

"Do what?" Cortana cut in. "I have the Index. All you can do is float and sputter."

"Enough!" Chief yelled, raising his hands to silence the bickering AIs. He looked to Cortana. "The Flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defences, we can wipe them out."

"You have no idea how this ring works, do you?" Cortana folded her arms arcoss her chest, and adopted a stern face. "Why the Forerunners built it?"

Chief winced internally; this was the first time he seen Cortana this mad at him.

Cortana continued, raising her holographic green arms to guesture to the ring. "Halo doesn't kill Flood...it kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever; we're all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death and that's what Halo is designed to do." She glared at Chief, then over to the Moniter. "You don't believe me? Ask him."

Chief turned his head to the Moniter, tightening his grip on his MA5. "Is is true?"

"More or less," Spark replied, levitating to look Chief in the visor. "Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand lightyears, bu once the other rings fire, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life." The Forerunner AI paused, and then went on. "But you already knew that. I mean, how couldn't you?"

"Left out that little detail, did he?" Cortana remarked snidely. Six walked over to the terminal and looked down at the buttons. "Don't press any buttons, Six," Cortana said, braking off the main conversation. "I don't want you to kill us all."

"We have followed our outbreak procedure to the letter," the Moniter said. "You were with me each step of the way as we managed this crisis..."

"Chief, I'm picking up movement," Cortana informed them, and Chief raised his rifle at the Moniter. Emile side-stepped over to the II, shotgun trained on the floating metal ball. Six searched his person for a weapon, but came up empty handed.

"Why would you hesitate to do what you've already done?" the Moniter asked, not flinching at the sight of the weapons aimed at him.

"We need to go," Cortana insisted. "Right now." Six pulled her chip, and slotted it into Chief's helmet for him. The II nodded a thanks.

"Last time you asked me if it were my choice, would I do it?" Spark raved on.

"We never asked you," Six interrupted, clenching his fists, and raising them into a defensive postiton.

The Moniter looked at Six, and then continued. "Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer remains unchanged. There is no choice. We must activate the ring."

Six reached over and grabbed Emile's kukri, and stepped up to the Moniter. "How hard is it to understand us?" he asked, as he swung the angled blade at Spark. "We're not activating the ring!" Six swung two more times, but the Moniter effectively evaded all three attacks.

"If you are unwilling to help, I will find another," Spark said, unfazed by the attacks. "Still, I must have the Index." He looked at Chief with his single blue eye. "Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take her from you."

Chief's grip on the Assault Rifle wavered slightly. Even the thought that he might lose Cortana, however slim the odds are, made him uneasy. He tighted his fingers on the trigger, and held it steady again. "That's not going to happen."

The Mointer remained silent as five Sentinals rose from the chasm below the bridge. "So be it," he said. "Save his head, dispose of the rest," Spark ordered the Sentinals. The Moniter flew off higher into the room, and disappeared.

"Well, shit," Emile commented, firing his M90. The buckshot harmlessly impacted on the Sentinal, before bouncing off.

"Emile, you'll probably have to get closer for your shotgun to be of any effect," Cortana said, watching helplessly from Chief's HUD.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," he replied sarcastically as he dove to avoid the Sentinal's beam.

"You're welcome, Captain Sarcasm," The AI shot back snidly.

Six was crouching farther back from the fight, clutching Emile's kukri tight in his hands. "Yeah, like Emile's the one who has to get closer," he said, using the most sarcastic tone he could muster.

The Master Chief was ingoring the background conversation, instead focusing on the battle he was in. He fired off a few rounds, which hit a Sentinal right in the glowing eyes. It erupted into flames as the remains fell to the ground.

"They aren't that tough," Six commented, as he saw the frist Sentinal go down. He tossed the kukri lightly into the air, and caught it by the blade. With a grunt, Six threw it as hard as he could toward the nearest Sentinal, which was busy trying to shoot Chief with its beam.

The blade sank into the metal, piercing several major componets. The Sentinal fell to the ground, sparking. "Hey, that worked," Six said, and then he noticed he had no weapon anymore.

Emile ran up under the last three Sentinals, and fired three shots in rapid sucsession. All three went down in flames. "And that's a triple kill."

"Let's go," Chief ordered as he sprinted for the control panel next to the door. He pressed the button that the Spartans had associated with opening doors, and the huge metal door broke into pieces as it slid up into the ceiling.

Two Elites, four Grunts, and two Jackals were engaging four Sentinals, and it was a pretty even match. The Sentinal's beams tore through the Unggoy mercilessly, while the Jackals were able to deflect them with their portable shields.

"Hold you fire," Chief said, and the Spartans ducked into an indent in the wall. "Let them fight it out, and we won't have as many to fight."

"Right," Six replied. "But I get first pick of weapons."

"Where's my kukri?" Emile asked Six, noticing that he didn't have it.

Six answered by jerking his thumb back into the Control Room. "It's in one of the Sentinals."

Emile ran back to get it, and was inspecting the blade as he returned. "On the bright side, it's not damaged too badly."

"Oh, good," Six said. "I thought I might have broken it. And then you would have killed-"

"If you two are done talking," Chief interrupted, "we have an mission to accomplish." He aimed the MA5 at the Elites, who had taken out two of the Sentinals with only a Jackal and all four Grunts as casulitys.

"Emile, move over behind those crates," Chief ordered, pointing at a group of three purple Covenant storage boxes. "We'll cover you. Try not to be seen."

Six made a finger gun out of the index finger and thumb of his right hand. "Like Chief said, I'll cover you," he told Emile, and he aimed his finger gun at the Elites. "Bang bang bang."

Behind the carved skull on his visor, Emile rolled his eyes, and made a break for the crates. He slid behind them, completely unseen. Setting his M90 on the ground next to him, to removed the lid on the side of the crate, and pulled out the hilt of an Energy Sword. He signaled the other two Spartans, and threw it to them.

Six reached up to grab it, but Chief's hand snatched it out of mid air just inches from the Spartan IV's waiting hand. "Hey," Six said in protest. "I wanted that. You have a gun, I don't."

"Just use your handgun," Chief replied, mimicing Six's finger gun. "It worked pretty well."

"Yeah, very funny," Six scoffed, before he got hit in the side of the head with a Covenant Carbine.

"Oops," Emile said through the comms. "I missed his face." He rolled several ammo cartridges over to Six, and took a Carbine for himself.

The Elites had finished off the last Sentinal, and the other Jackal had been taken out. They were standing around, doing absolutely nothing, until one of the got the idea to kick a Grunt body across the hall. That sent them into a fit of laughter.

"Take aim," Chief told Six and Emile. "On three."

"Wait, on three?" Six asked. "Or three, and then shoot?"

"I just said on three," Chief sighed. "It's faster that way."

"Okay, just wanted to clear that up," Six replied, cracking his neck. He poked out of cover just enough to aim the Carbine without being spotted.

"One...two...three!" Chief side rolled out of cover, and opened fire on the Elites, completely scaring the crap outta them. The Elites returned fire, but Six and Emile fired away at them, taking out their shields. Six fired both headshots, killing them less than a second apart.

"I've been thinking," Cortana said as the two Sangheili bodies hit the dull metal floor with loud thumps.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Emile asked, picking up his shotgun, and putting the Carbine on his back. "That's the only thing you do, Cortana. Someday, I think you'll think yourself to death."

The room went dead silent.

Six opened a private comm channel with Emile. "You do know what rampancy is, right?"

"What? I've never heard of it before," Emile replied. "If figure that you're gonna explain it to me now, right?"

Six rubbed his visor. "Honestly Emile, you couldn't have said a worse thing. AIs begin to go rampant after so many years of service, and rampancy is where the AI practically thinks itself to death."

"Oh." Emile glanced awkwardly around the room. "I didn't know that."

"Most AIs aren't really fond of being reminded about rampancy, so just don't make anymore comments like that, okay?" Six asked.

"Alright," Emile answered with a sigh.

Cortana was watching through the Master Chief HUD, and based off the bobbing of Six and Emile's heads, they were in a private conversation. She figured that Six was explaining rampancy to Emile, because she honestly didn't want to be in that position. It made her uncomfortable. Kinda like a single father having to give his only daughter the birds-and-bees talk.

Chief had remained calm and still through the entire thing, not saying a word. He knew about rampancy, but he really didn't know what to say in this situation. So he remain silent.

"Whoops," Emile sheepishly once Six had cut the private channel. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Cortana shrugged it off as if it hadn't bothered her. After all, the UNSC was making advances in the AI department, so perhaps they could find a way to cure rampancy. "As I was saying, we have to stop the Moniter from activating the ring."

"We have the Index," Chied reminded her as he walked over to the control panel for the door in front of them. "He can't do anything."

""But what if he finds another way to activate the ring's weapon of mass destruction?" Cortana asked. "Then what?"

Six loaded a new ammo cell into his Carbine. "Well then, what are you proposing we do?"

"We have to destroy Halo."

Once again, the room went dead silent.

"We really don't have the firepower to do that," Six said. "But, if you could get us a couple million pounds of explosives, we might be able to do that."

Cortana sighed. "Or we could just overload a starship's engine core."

"Yeah right," Six scoffed. "And where the hell would we get one of those?"

Emile face-palmed. "Gee, I don't know," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We only crash landed in a starship, perhaps we could use that."

"Oh, right," Six said, smacking his head. "I forgot about the Pillar of Autumn."

"But if we're going to do that, then we'll have to buy some time," Cortana explained. "There are pulse generators in the canyon, and they power the ring's weapon. If we disable them, then the Moniter will have to repair them before he can fire the ring."

Chief opened the final door, allowing them to exit the Control Room. It was darker outside than when they had last been here, over twelve hours ago. Snow was still falling, and the bodies of the Covenant that they had killed on the way in had been moved. However, the bloodstains still glistened on the dull gray metal.

A single Grunt was lollygagging near the door, and jumped as he saw the Spartans. "Demons!" the Unggoy shouted as it ran away.

Emile fired once, with his M90, and the Grunt rolled down the incline it was on. Shortly after, roars of Elites echoed in the canyon, mixed with fearful cries of Grunts.

"Perhaps we should have taken the stealth approach," Six said. "There seemed to be a lot of them."

"Stealth is for wusses," Emile replied, cocking his shotgun. "You need to be able to take your enemies on face-to-face."

A target marker appeared on their HUD. "That's where the first pulse generator is," Cortana informed them. "But, we'll need a way up there."

"Hey," Six said. "If worse comes to worst, I'll just climb up the rock wall, like I did with the Scorpion tank."

Chief emptied the rest of his clip into an Elite that had come up the incline where the dead Grunt was. The Elite recoiled at the attack, but the shields of the Major held. Six instantly brought his foot up and kicked the Sangheili right in the stomach, causing it to double over. Grabbing its head in both of his hands, Six thrusted the Elite's head down as he brought his knee up, effectively breaking its skull, and killing it.

"Six, check to see that where ever that ramp leads is clear," Chief ordered, nodding his head at a ramp that was in the pillar in front of them, while he reloaded. Six went up, and after a few minutes he returned, SRS99C Sniper Rifle on his back with the Carbine, and an M6D pistol on his hip. Cradled in his arms were at least a dozen packets of ammuntion.

"Holy shit," Emile said, as Six dumped the packets on the floor. He reached down and grabbed one that held twelve shotgun shells, and ripped it open, pouring the contents into his side pouch.

Chief took all the ones for Assault Rifles, while Six snatched all SRS and DMR ammo, despite the fact that he didn't have a DMR.

Six took his Sniper Rifle, peered through the scope. "I see a Wraith, and there are two Banshees next to it, and several Elites and Grunts," he reported, even though no one had told him to gather intel.

"Now we can plan an attack accordingly," Chief said, looking over the edge of the top layer of the Control Room pyramid.

"Just run like hell, shooting all the way, right?" Emile asked, checking his Carbine, before returning it to his back.

Chief slightly smiled. "Yep. Six will provide sniper support, for obvious reasons." He paused for a minute. "Let's do this."

* * *

Michelle rubbed her tired eyes just as the sun broke on the horizon. "And then there was tenth grade." She had been tell Getu the story of her life, and he seemed to be listening. Which was surprising, since was an Elite.

"I didn't sleep with that girl Sarah like everyone said I did," she told him, and Getu looked over at her.

"Why would it matter if you were to sleep with another? Seems perfectly normal, I've slept with several people before," the Sangheili said, staring off into the distant desert.

Michelle smiled. "It's sorta a human thing," she said. "Sleeping with someone usually means that you...well..."

"...banged with them?" Getu finished, trying out the word.

The human nodded. "Pretty much, at least that's how it is in a human high school."

Getu shrugged. "I've never understood why you humans have other people teach you," he said. "My parents taught me everything I needed to know; it is the job of the parents to teach the offspring."

"Usually, human parents are working to support their families, so they don't really have the time," Michelle explained. "And the teachers can teach the students things that the parents wouldn't know."

Getu shrugged. "My parents just taught me how to farm, and that lasted a few years, until I was conscripted into the ranks of the Covenant. I'm surprise I even made it to Major being the coward I am."

Michelle was about to respond, when Getu jumped up, his hands flying toward his weapons. He activated the Energy Sword, and raised a Plasma Rifle in his free hand.

"Show yourself!" he shouted, brandishing the sword. Getu aimed his rifle around, before several Spec Ops Elites materialized, completely circling Getu, Michelle, and the now awake Pango.

"You're very observant, Sel'gath," the leader of the Spec Ops team said, his rank denoted by the Concussion Rifle in his hands. The others held Carbines. "And I will say that you are very lucky that the glorious Shipmaster wants you alive." He glared at Pango. "As for this whelp, he is wanted alive as well." He growled at Michelle. "And so is this...filthy vermin."

An Elite walked over and confiscated all the weapons on the ground, Pango's Needler and Plasma Pistol, Michelle's shotgun and pistol, while another Elite wrenched the weapons from Getu's hands.

"I'm only acting on Taal's orders," the leader went on. "If I weren't, I would have killed you for the price that Supreme Commander Vadamee of the Fleet of Partictular Justice had put on your head."

"Then you and I see differently," Getu said as a Spec Ops Elite forced his hands behind his back before putting on energy binders. "I would have killed you regardless."

The leader growled. "Your association with this human have changed you, Sel'gath. I only hope when the time comes, I get to slay it."

"Michelle is a she, not an it," Getu replied calmly, knowing that he had gone against the Covenant several times, and making it worse got kinda fun after a while. Kinda like a last act of definance. Like an eagle swooping down to snatch a mouse, and the mouse is flipping it off.

The Elite binding Michelle's hands looked right into her face, and growled, opening all mandibles to bear his teeth against her. "Damn," Michelle said, "you need a Tic-Tac."

Pango was bound, and the Elites began dragging them across the desert. After about five minutes, Michelle decided to have some fun. "Hey Getu?" The Sangheili looked up. "How many Covenant does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

Getu flashed a look of confusion across his face, before Michelle continued. "None, Covenant can't screw in a lightbulb. They just stare at it like 'what wretched human contraption is this?'" She burst into laughter, and Getu laughed only because it seemed like the right thing to do. He didn't know what a lightbulb was.

Pango piped up. "How many stinky Brutes does it take to stink up starship?"

Michelle smiled. "How many?"

"None, it's Elite Spec Ops teams that stink up starships." The three captives once again broke into a laughing fit.

The leader of the Spec Ops team roared, and smashed his weapon into Michelle's head, knocking her out. Then he knocked out Pango. It took three swings to knock out Getu, but soon, all three captives were out cold.

"They're wanted alive," he told his second in command. "Taal never said anything about conscious."

* * *

_**A/N: arbiter6784 beta'd this chapter, as he has for the past several chapters, and he does great.**_

_**Anywho, my absence was due to getting a new laptop, so I had to transfer all my files from my desktop, and also to a bad case of lazy. It's summer, can you blame me? **_

_**If anyone wants to continue The Journey ahead, feel free to do so. I will continue with my own version soon, but it would be interesting to see someone's else's version. So. Yeah.**_

_**My Halo 5 Theory: At the end of Spartan Ops, Halsey says she wants revenge on the UNSC, and 343i claims that Halo 5 will be a dark title in the Reclaimer Trilogy. Which could possibly mean that Halsey uses the Storm Covenant to attack the UNSC, disoreintating them, and wiping a large portion of them out.**_

_**Cortana will also return, if you pay close attention in the second mission, you hear Cortana say that she could cure her rampancy by recompling her neural network. And then on the mission Composer, you can find a audio recording where Halsey says that the Composer is similar to the AI matrix complier she used for AIs. So Cortana might return as a Promethean Knight or something. Or perhaps as that Forerunner bird thing in the Halo 5 trailer...**_

_**Just theorizing right there...**_

_**Peace out!**_


	38. Chapter 38: Betraying

_Chapter Thirty-Eight: Betraying_

"That's a bigass arrow," Six commented, looking at the glowing blue triangle pointing away from the door to the Control Room.

"No one cares, so do your job," Emile spat, loading a new shell into his shotgun. He ran off, right behind Chief.

Six heard several roars from Elites, and the high-pitched whiney cries of the Grunts. Cracking his knuckles, he went prone, and leveled his SRS at an Elite Major far out next to the Wraith, which had turned and took aim at the area where Chief and Emile were attacking. Six gently squeezed the trigger, barely feeling the gun jerk back as the bullet fired. The Major fell to the ground, with a bloody purple stump instead of a head. "Boom, bitch," Six muttered, as he pulled the bolt back, and took aim again.

"How are you, Six?" Cortana asked, appearing on a comm screen. She looked expectant, and slightly tired at the same time. But, being and AI, those were probably simulated to express how she felt.

"I'm fine. You?" He fired off another shot, catching another Major right in the neck.

She smiled. "I had to leave Emile and Chief, since they were being rather violent." Cortana shook her head sadly. "And they were desecrating the bodies. Emile was, anyway."

Six sighed as he pulled the SRS's bolt back again. "He wasn't teabagging, was he?"

Cortana laughed. "What ten-year-olds do on first person shooters? No. Believe it or not, this isn't a first person shooter."

"My life feels like a first person shooter," Six muttered, punctuating the sentence by picking off a Elite Minor.

"So, out of morbid curiousity, do you know what the Writ of Union is?" Cortana asked, feeling like she wanted to show off her smartness. "I didn't until just a few hours ago."

"Does it have something to do with the First American Civil War?" Six asked, reached for a new clip.

"Nope."

"Can I have a hint?"

"Nope."

"Well, then, screw that," Six said, ejecting the old clip, and putting in his new one. Pulling the bolt back, he stood up, and took aim at an Elite Zealot that walked into sight, Beam Rifle searching for the demon that had sniped his three troops.

"Kiss your ass goodbye." Six fired off two rounds, the first striking the Zealot's shoulder, and the second missing completely.

"What the hell?" Six sputtered in surprise. "That should have hit him. I swear someone messed with the scope."

"Who?" Cortana countered. "You're the only one who has held it recently."

"I'm not going to-oh shit!" Six dove off the top level of the Control Room pyramaid, holding his SRS out in front of him. He landed hard on his stomach as a Wraith mortar impacted on the spot where he was standing less than three seconds ago.

"For later reference," Six muttered, standing up, "first person shooters would call that a dolphin dive." Cortana rolled her holographic purple eyes.

He could hear the shotgun blasts and MA5 fire as he kicked over a Covenant crate to its side, crouched down behind the crate, and propped his SRS up on it. Six was going to kill that Zealot if it killed him. He could see the yellow armored Elite, as it dove behind a crate.

"The rounds you're using can probably go straight through those crates, and you could kill the Elite if you aim at the right spot," Cortana explained, hoping Six would pull the shot off.

All of a sudden, the Zealot jumped out from behind the crate, weilding his Beam Rifle. It fired off a few shots, before the weapon overheated, burning its hands.

Six dropped his SRS, which fell over the crate and clattered down to the third level. He clutched his left shoulder, where a single beam had hit him. The smell of burnt flesh penetrated Six's helmet filters, and his Grenadier shoulder armor on that side was melted, but still usuable.

"Are you okay?" Cortana shouted, and before he could answer, she immediantly told the other two Spartans. "Six is hit!"

"Again?" Emile asked, cocking his shotgun. "How bad?"

"It hit his left shoulder, and it might be a while before it heals," Cortana informed them, taking readings from whatever part of Six's armor as she could. "With his vital sign scanner out, it'll be tough to know what to do."

Six stood up and jumped off the second level, sliding down the inclined wall to the third level, where he landed on his SRS. A Wraith mortar struck the second level. His Six's vison blurred, and started to darken.

"Emile, take that thing out," Chief ordered, as he ran over to Six. "Do you still have that med-pack from a while back?"

Six shrugged, blinking as his vison returned to normal. "I think all I have is a half-empty can of biofoam," he replied, reaching for his pouch and retrieving the can. He tossed it to Chief, who caught it right as the Wraith exploded in a beautiful blue fireball.

Reaching out, Six grabbed the SRS, and held it in one hand, steadying the barrel with a dead Grunt laying a few feet away. He fired off three shots, and the Zealot fell dead, and a Beam hit the wall above him. "I killed him."

"Nice shot," Chief complimented, shaking the can to activate the foam. "This might hurt."

"Wait." Six removed his helmet with his good arm, and grabbed one of the ejected casings from his sniper. He put it in his mouth and bit down on it. "Okay, we're goo'," he said around the spent casing.

Chief undid the clasps holding Six's Grenadier shoulder on, and let the partially melted armor piece fall to the ground. He aimed the tip of the can right into the wound, and pressed the button down.

Six winced more than once, but he bit down on the casing. Chief removed the can, which was now empty. Letting out a deep breath, Six let the casing fall from his mouth, and the teeth marks on it were easy to see.

"Would these help?" Emile asked, walking over holding some bandages in his hand. Over his right shoulder was a Rocket Launcher, barrels smoking. Chief nodded, and then took them from Emile and started to wrap them around the wound. After that, he put the semi-melted armor back on, since it was still usable.

"So, that thing we were talking about," Emile said to Chief. "Would this seal the deal?"

Chief shrugged. "I guess so."

Six retrieved his helmet with his good arm, and stood up. "What are you talking about?"

Cortana did the talking. "Six, a little while back, I located a Marine encampment that had managed to contact a UNSC Marathon Cruiser that had also mananged to escape Reach. It exited roughly out of radio range, but some Marines made a decent connection. They began to evac Marines and other UNSC personnel." She paused and let that sink in. "We want you on that cruiser in a couple of hours while we finish the fight on Halo."

Six froze, helmet half on. "What? I'm gonna stay and fight."

"You're wounded Six," Cortana continued, taking on a motherish tone. "I won't allow it for your safety."

"Screw my safety!" Six spat back. "The whole galaxy is in danger, and you want me to sit out? No way."

"Can you fight?" Chief asked, pulling the bolt on his MA5 back.

"Yeah," Six picked up his SRS, and winced as his wounded arm moved. Gritting his teeth, he endured the pain as he put it on his back, and took his M6D in his good hand.

A marker appeared on their HUDs, indicating the location of the pulse generator. "These generators can produce a massive amount of power, I can't even begin to calculate what the range would be if the ring fired."

"25,000 lightyears," Six replied, heading toward the ruins of the Wraith. He paused to shoot a squriming Jackal in the head. "That's what that damn lightbulb said, anyway."

"Would you trust anything that thing said?" Cortana asked, folding her arms across her chest on the comm screen. "After he lied to you like that?"

Without saying anything, Cheif jumped into a Banshee, and flew up to the pulse generator. The other Banshee was rendered completely unusable since some rubble from the Wraith hit it, tearing the wings off and catching it on fire.

A new marker appeared, pointing Six and Emile toward a door in the side of the rock wall. "This door should lead you through a few rooms and up to the bridge," Cortana explained, as she indicated the rock bridge that connected the two walls of the canyon.

"Let's go," Emile said, in the exact same tone he had when Carter had died. "Chief'll met us there, right?"

"Affirmative," Cortana answered. The two Spartans made their way to the door, while Chief's Banshee touched down on the platform that jutted out of the rocky wall, allowing access to the pulse generator room.

"How would take it out?" Chief asked, aiming his rifle around corners, checking for any hostiles in the area. After there weren't any, he lowered the weapon, and looked into the generator, which was bascially a blue stream of light shooting up into the ceiling.

"Hold on," Cortana said. After a few seconds, she had an answer. "The generators are operating on a frequency that the shields on you armor can disrupte, after I make a quick change...there. Just step into the beam of light."

"You have to be kidding."

"I'm an AI. I rarely joke."

Chief stepped up to the beam, and hesistantly put his arm into it. Instantly, his shields broke, while the beam dissapated. "That worked. How long will that hold the Moniter off?"

"Until he repairs them."

A Sentinal flew in from a door in the back, followed by three others. Chief instantly opened fire, taking out one, while running for the the exit, firing the Assault Rifle behind him. His shields recovered as the door shut behind him.

There was now a second Banshee on the platform, which confused Chief, until he saw the Elite. It was looking over the edge of the platform, down at the ground several hundred feet below it. It turned and looked over at the firefight that was occuring on the bridge, it heard the M6D shots, and the shotgun blasts.

"Perfect," Chief muttered to himself, as he crept up behind the idle Minor, and kicked it in the back once he was close enough. With a startled roar, the Elite fell, and hitting the ground leaving a giant purple bloodstain.

Returning to his Banshee, Chief flew off, going into to provide air support for his teammates.

"Toss me the sniper!" Emile shouted, as he fumbled a shotgun shell. They were pinned down behind some rocks, with three Elites, seven Grunts, and four Jackals shooting at them.

Grunting, Six dropped his pistol, and used his unwounded arm to toss the weapon over to Emile several yards away. His injured arm was tucked in toward his body, where his left hand was holding on to his chest piece. It hurt to move that arm.

"It might've burned through your muscles," Emile said, nodding at Six's arm. "It has to hurt like hell to move it." He poked the SRS out of cover, and fired, taking an Elite to the ground with a bullet to the arm. The snow recieved a wave of purple blood, leaving a large stain.

"You know that Elite's still alive," Six noted, peering around his rock as he picked up his pistol from the cold snow.

Emile nodded. "That's what this is for." He patted his kukri.

Chief flew overhead in the Banshee, blasting several fleeing Grunts with the plasma cannons and firing a few fuel rods into the small group of Elites who were returning fire. Two were killed on impact, including the one that Emile had hit with the SRS.

"Well, that was no fun," Emile said as he returned his kukri to the sheath. Right then, the last standing Elite ran at them, swapping his Plasma Rifles for his Energy Sword. That was when Emile realized that he had left his shotgun on the ground and reaching down to get it would take too much time.

The Elite swung, and Emile fell back onto the ground, kicking the Major in the leg. It roared, and brought the sword up. Rolling to the side, Emile reached his M90.

Six fired evey bullet in the M6D's clip, hoping to buy Emile some time. Chief had landed farther up on the bridge, and was making his way over with extreme speed. The Elite looked over at Six, and roared. Emile stood up and punched it in the back, finishing the shields off.

Once again, the Major roared, and spun, swinging the sword at Emile. The III fell flat on his ass, steam rising from a gash in his chest piece. Cursing, Six looked at the ammo count for his pistol. He had some more clips, but with his injured arm, it would be hell to reload.

The Elite cleared the space in between him and Six, roaring to high hell and sword raised. Dropping the pistol, Six raised both of his arms up, catching the Elite's wrist, holding the sword inches from his head.

He could feel the intense pain, grunting and wincing as he gave one giant shove, pushing the Major away. The Elite was stunned for a second, but quickly came back to his senses. Before it could do anything, it was blownin half by a shotgun blast.

Emile stood behind the Elite as it fell to the ground, spewing blood everywhere. He was looking down at the blackened cut on his chest piece. "It's just a flesh wound," he remarked, cocking his shotgun.

Six saw Chief standing around, waiting for them. "Where were you?" Six asked, as he retrieved his Magnum.

"I wanted to see if either of you learned anything from me," Chief answered, folding his arms. "Oh, and Six? The next time you see the Moniter, you have my full permission to blast it to hell and back."

"Thank you," Six replied, finally glad he would be able to kill it. "So there were two betrayals, right?"

"What?" Emile, Cortana and Chief asked.

"The Moniter betrayed us, and now we're betraying him, right?"

Cortana rolled her virtual eyes. "I guess you can look at it like that." She noticed the cut in Emile's armor. "I guess so far Chief is the only one who has unnoticable scars on his armor."

The place where Six had been stabbed by the plasma dagger could be seen on his armor, now a small area of melted metal. The back of Six's helmet still bore the dent from when he fell off the bridge. And now there was the melted shoulder piece.

Emile's armor was in far better condition, save for the newest gash. Sure, there were a few scratches here and there, but nothing major.

"Let's keep moving," Cortana urged. "And I have a new topic of conversation." Six and Emile groaned. Even a small release of breath could be heard from Chief.

"With all due respect," Emile started, "I don't want to talk about AI stuff. It makes my head hurt."

"Actually Emile, I was thinking about what your plans would be post-war," Cortana said. "After all, Humanity is gonna win this war."

Six scoffed. "Even the AI is falling for ONI propaganda." He cracked his back. "I mean we could win the war, but it's not really a likely outcome."

Emile smacked Six's shoulder. "Listen, bro. As long as I'm alive, the Covies aren't gonna win this war."

"Bro?" Six, Chief and Cortana asked at the same time, slightly shocked by Emile's choice of words.

Emile shrugged. "I've considered a civilian life after the war," he explained. "I've got to master the lingo."

"I've considered writing a book after the war," Six said. "Based off of what happened on this ring. But ONI would probably censor the hell out of that thing, or pass it off as fiction or something." He sighed. "But still, critics would have to give it good reviews."

Chief thought for a minute. The war was his life. He was made to kill, and if the war was over, then he wouldn't have anything to do. Maybe he could borrow Emile's idea of a civilian. Then he decided to do whatever would keep his as close to Cortana as possible.

The group switced to silent mode as the crunched through the snow, heading for their next target.

**...**

"And there she is," Corporal Jesse Gomez said, motioning to the wreck in the distance. Tallert looked out over at the blackened ruins of the UNSC starship, blocking out the desert sun with his eyes. The Pillar of Autumn had crashed down in a desert, with absolutely nothing around it.

"And we're going to take it back, right?" Tallert asked, looking over at Gomez.

"We were. But then we made contact with the UNSC Gates of Hell," Gomez explained. "Currently, the ship is only half full, and we evac-ed at least two thirds of the survivors."

Another Marine passed by, staring at Tallert with a strange look. He turned back and asked; "Haven't I seen you before?"

"I don't think so..." Tallert answered, cracking his knuckles as he leaned back against some crates.

The Marine thought for a minute, scratching his cheek. "Oh right. I think I dated your sister once awhile back then."

Tallert raised his eyebrows. "I don't have a sister." He folded his arms, suspecting that this was some sort of joke.

The Marine frowned, and reached for his datapad. After scrolling through some pictures, he held it out to Tallert. "You honestly look like her."

He took the datapad, Tallert looked down at it, blinking in shock. The girl in question looked like the female version of Tallert. Same red hair, same green eyes, freckles. "She said her name was Amber Bently."

"I've never met her before," Tallert said, still in slight shock. "My parents never said I had a sister." He looked over to the Marine. "Where did you meet her?"

"Somewhere on Reach. I helped her evac, but that was a year after we had broken up," he answered. "I know she's alive somewhere."

"Once we're off this damn ring, you'll gonna help me find her," Tallert told him. "I need to ask her some questions."

"I guess I could," the Marine said, holding out his hand. "I'm Gary Burgoff."

Shaking the Marine's hand, Tallert introduced himself. "I'm Tallert Phillips." He gave back the datapad. "We'll start looking as soon as we're back in human territory."

"No problem," Gary said as he walked away.

Tallert turned back to Gomez. "You know where Miller, Karrie, and...that other woman went? They'll get a kick out of this."

"They're doing it in the back of a Pelican," Gomez answered, folding his arms. A smiled slowly spread across his face as he spotted a hijacked Covenant Carbine laying against a crate. "I've got a great idea."

_**A/N: And, once more, shadowblazex22 and Dejae were betas. **_

_**My long delay has a quite simple explanation: My laptop was wounded in action during an accidental discharge of an airsoft gun. That's right, I shot my laptop. Cracked the screen to hell and back, but now it's replaced.**_

_**And now, to answer some reviews. **_

_SilverAngel: __**To sum it all up, you are correct. I can understand that it's quite confusing, sometimes even I get discombobulated. **_

NirvanaFrk97: _**Well, to put it honestly, that was a mistake. Jorge kinda slipped my mind when I wrote that chapter, and I'm going to go back and fix that.**_

_**And in other news, **_The Journey Ahead _**has been completely redone, with all chapters rewritten, and chapter four is new. There is a slight error in chapter four, which I'm sure you will be able to find when you see that most of a paragraph is missing. Fear not, I will correct it.**_

_**That is all.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	39. Chapter 39: Going Our Separate Ways

_Chapter Thirty-Nine: Going Our Separte Ways_

Chief motioned Six forward, keeping the MA5 trained on the back of an unsuspecting Elite standing several feet away. Six stayed low as he moved, tightening the grip on his pistol as he ran. He winced as his wounded arm smacked into the wall, cursing as he continued toward the Master Chief.

They were in yet another hexagonal room, much to their dismay. Basically, it was the same room over and over again, with very little change between the rooms. They had managed to get through without firing a bullet, by sneaking through.

Six ducked down into the doorway, which led to a inclined hall that went down to a lift. "So, now we're backtracking through all the places we went through last time," Six noted as the lift started downward.

"Exactly," Cortana replied. After a few moments of silence, Cortana spoke again. "Once the next two generators are down, I'll radio for Foehammer to pick you up, Six."

"I'll be fine," Six said, "I've been through worse."

"That time you've had medical attention nearby, or you suffered no pyshical harm, other than slight disorentation, and hallcinations," the AI replied, adopting a stern tone. "This time, you can't move your arm with out pain, so I think you should head up to the UNSC ship in orbit, and get some needed rest."

"And besides," Emile intejected, "Chief and I can use some quiet. You talk too much."

"And that's a problem how? Communication is best for a team." Six held up his pistol and checked the ammo count on his HUD.

"We're a team now?" Chief asked, looking over at Six.

"Weren't we always a team? Since the very beginning?"

Emile rolled his eyes. "If we're a team, then we need a team name."

"I vote for Noble Team," Six said.

"That's stupid," Emile replied. "I vote for Team Skull."

"Oh come on, that's stupider than Noble Team." And thus, the two began an unprofessional argument that lasted longer than it should have.

Cortana's sighed could be heard over the comms, and Chief released a deep breath. "You two do realize that the lift reached the bottom one minute, seven seconds ago, right?"

Six and Emile looked around. "So it did." Emile stated, and the three walked out of the lift, and into yet another of the damned hexagonal rooms.

"Forget it." Emile primed two grenades, and threw them into the room, causing several Grunts to squeal, followed by short burst of Sangheilianese. The frags detonated, and a small patch of blue blood splattered against a nearby wall.

Six groaned as he leveled his pistol at the head of an oncoming Elite Minor, and let loose. The first three rounds impacted the Elite's head, draining the shields, and Emile finished it off with a shotgun blast to the face.

Six groaned, and started picking off Jackals, aiming straight for the head. The next four rounds he shot went right into four different Kig-Yars' brains.

Chief went into an all out offensive. He ran into the middle of the room, firing away with the MA5. Several Grunts, Jackals, and an Elite fell dead.

The final Covenant groupee in the room was a Grunt, and it was practically scared shitless. Emile walked over to it, pulling out his kukri. "This is gonna be fun."

"Wow, that was rather...painful," Cortana commented three minutes later, looking at what remained of the Unggoy. "Although I think you should have left its organs in its body."

"Where's the fun in that?" Emile asked, putting the knife away. He took his M90 off the metallic plates on his back, and cocked it, letting the empty shell clatter to the floor.

Putting up another waypoint for the three Spartans, Cortana explained the plans that she had laid out. "The next generator is in a canyon, the same one where you three and Johnson faced off against the Hunters. Like the first one, and the other one, it's up on a cliff, meaning that you'll need a Banshee or some other mode of ariel transport like that."

"That's perfect," Emile muttered, as they stepped out of the corridor they traversed and into the snow. They were at the same location where they had left Johnson and the Marines at least a day ago.

Snow had piled up on the Covenant crates, and there was a thinner layer on two Ghosts that sat nearby, engines still warm from the last use. Two Elites, obviously the drivers, were standing around idley, chatting away in Sangheili.

"Wait," Cortana said as Emile raised the SRS he had taken from the wounded Six. "I'm close enough to translate what they're saying."

Emile sighed. "Cortana, I hope that some day you'll understand this, but I don't care!"

"Hm, I already understand that," Cortana answered. "But in the time it took you to say that, I translated enough. Fire at will."

"That's what I like to hear." Two loud bangs later, the Elites were drowning in pools of their own blood, with two new holes in their necks.

"You missed their heads," Chief said, putting his rifle on his back, and hopping into one of the Ghosts.

"I know; it's better to make them suffer," Emile replied, taking the other Ghost.

"What about me?" Six asked, walking over to them, as they powered up the recon vehicles.

Chief turned his head. "We're going ahead to clear out the Covies, and you follow behind, putting yourself at a minimum risk."

He boosted off, Emile followed directly behind. "Is it just me, or do they not like me anymore?" Six asked Cortana, the only person who would hear him.

"Think of it this way," she said, "They're concerned for you safety. Remember when you got stabbed?"

Six scoffed as he started walking. "It's kind hard to forget something like that."

"Did you see how Emile was worried? How he called for the medic as soon as he could? Chief wouldn't admit it, but he was worried too." Cortana folded her arms on the comm screen. "And then there were your crazy episodes. The hallucinations, the flashbacks. I never told you, but Emile was trying to help you, spinning out ideas." The AI chuckled. "We even planned to set you up on a date, but that kinda fell through."

"Really," Six asked, facepalming with his good hand. "A date?" He walked past smoldering bodies of Grunts, and a single Elite.

Cortana rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. It was a stupid idea. But they do care for you, even thought they won't say so. They think it's un-Spartan."

"Someday there won't be a need for Spartans, and they'll need to accept the human said of them." Six's heavy metal boots crunched through the snow, following the depressions in the white that the Ghost's antigravity engines had left.

"If we all survived and aren't wiped out by the genocidal aliens," Cortana muttered, looking off screen. "But we shouldn't worry about that, right?" She looked up, right into Six's eyes. "How's your arm?"

"It hurts, but it'll get better. You seem like there's something bothering you."

Cortana sighed. "Earlier, when Emile mentioned rampancy, it made me realize that I won't be around forever. We all have out time to go."

"Scared of death, are we?"

The AI shook her head. "It's not so much as death...it's John. He needs to understand that I'm not always going to be there for him. He has to learn to operate without me."

Six exited a cave, one that he had gone through before, in complete silence. It was the first time he had heard Cortana refer to Chief by his name, although he suspected that was because she wanted to retain an air of professionalism most of the time.

There was the flaming remains of a Ghost wrecked into a cliff wall just outside of the cave. Emile was behind it, aiming the SRS at a fleeing Grunt.

Grabbing his pistol off his hip, Six's hand flew up, and he fired a single round, tearing through the Unggoy's head. "To believe, I used to feel sorry for those guys," he muttered, as he walked over to Emile. "Nice driving."

"It was a fuel rod gun," Emile explained. "Neither of us saw it." He pointed ahead to a flipped over Ghost. "Chief's got hit too, and he ran off somewhere."

"I got us our new ride," Chief said, as he pulled up in a Warthog. "Found it flipped over just next to that." He pointed to the curved rock incline that led up to the top of the cliff. "There were dead infected inside the Warthog."

"Ok," Six said. "One, there's no way I'm getting in that, you know our history in those vehicles. And two, since when could Flood drive?"

"I hope those things don't ever get a Scorpion," Emile muttered, hopping into the turret and checking the ammo. After a second, he tore out the current ammo box, and reached for a full one stashed behind the seats in front.

Chief looked over to Six. "Are you coming?"

"I thought that you didn't want me to come since I was wounded."

"Emile and I figured since this is probably going to be your last mission with us on the ring," Chief said. "You might want to come along for the ride."

"Literally," Emile added, guesturing to the Warthog.

Six shrugged and ran over to the passenger seat, flopping down. "Let us roll," he said, grabbing an MA5 from the floorboard. "I can handle this with one hand."

"You should know what those Elite's were saying," Cortana blurted out randomly. "They were talking about how some Elites had broken off from the Covenant, and that these heretics claimed that the ring was a weapon of destruction, not an instrument of salvation. You know how that'll turn out."

Chief nodded. "Hopefully that means that these 'heretics will wipe out the Covenant, and vise versa."

"And then the Flood take them both out, leaving us with less to worry about," Six added.

"Those Elites also said that a Unggoy, Sangheili, and a human were taken captive, and were being transported to a cruiser in orbit," Cortana said. "One was about to tell the other why they had taken them as prisoners, and then you shot them, Emile."

"Hey, just doin' my job," the III replied, pulling the bolt back on the heavy machine gun. Chief slowly started the Warthog up the incline, and Six gritted his teeth as he used his wounded hand to grab the metal bar above him.

"It's not that bad," he said, tightening the muscles in the injured arm to try to ease the pain. "I think I might be able to stick it out with you guys."

Cortana cleared her virtual throat. "As your personal Artificial Intelligence doctor, I will not permit it. You nearly got your whole arm taken off."

"It's just a flesh wound," Six pouted, as the Warthog reached the top of the hill. Emile opened up on an Elite Major, one of the two Elites in the small canyon that led to the bigger canyon. Chief floored it, smashing into the Minor and sending a wave of purple over the windshield. The Major was ripped to shreds by the heavy fire of the turrent.

"I am utterly amazed," Six commented. "We got through a firefight with losing a Warthog. Amazing."

"You know what that means," Emile said. "We're going to lose it very, very soon."

As the 'hog pulled into the giant canyon, a Banshee launched from the top of a snowy plateau and rained plamsa down on the Warthog. It fired a fuel rod, which impaced right next to the Warthog's back tires.

The back half of the Warthog was thrown into the air, flinging Emile out. Chief tried to get it stablized, but the vehicle completely flipped over, and he crawled out, MA5 in hand and ready to fight.

Six stood up and aimed his MA5 around, using both hands as he practically screamed in pain. The Banshee made another pass, firing its twin plasma cannons. Chief's shields were hit, and he fired back, unloading his enitre clip as he backed into cover.

Making a third pass, the Banshee chose Six as its target. Six dove under the flipped Warthog, protecting himself from the plasma. But as luck would have it, the Warthog then exploded as plasma penetrated the gas tank.

"Six!" Cortana shouted in horror, as she saw the fireball. Six crawled out of the flaming wreckage, his shields down and blood splattered on the back of his leg.

He stood up and limped as fast as he could over to Chief and Emile, who were in cover behind crates. "You know, this has been great, getting the living shit beat and shot outta me. But I think I'll go to that nice, safe starship."

"Yeah, that might be the best option," Chief agreed, as he ran over to a Banshee that was sitting around. Emile ran over to a parked Revenant, and Six went to the passenger side of the Revenant.

Using his non injured hand, Six fired his MA5 into the hull of the enemy Banshee, causing it to smoke as it unleashed yet another volley of plasma. "Go go go!" Six shouted as the enemy fighter fired a fuel rod at them. Emile boosted away as Chief swooped in with is Banshee, and fired a fuel rod at the enemy aircraft. It hit the underside when the Banshee tried to dodge it by backflipping.

"You two move ahead to clear out enemies while I get the generator," Chief ordered, flying up to the platform on the cliff.

Emile headed for the slope that they had come up on their assault on the Control Room. The door that led into the giant metal caves was closed, with a few ominous patches of Flood slime, and blood of all colors.

"I don't know if we'll get through," Six muttered, as Emile leaned out of the Revenant, and pressed the button that opened the door. The bottom sections split away, but stopped, only opened a few feet. Sparks erupted from the middle of the door, which then exploded, ending any chance that it could've worked again.

"Well, this is the end of the Revenant ride," Emile said, pointing to the opening they had. Six shrugged as they both heard the moaning and groaning of everyone's favorite undead creatures. "That don't sound good." Emile aimed the turret of the Revenant at the opening, while Six aimed the Assault Rifle at the same place.

"On the bright side," Six started, "we have the only enterance they can come at us from covered." With that, the first combat form ran at them, but Six cut it down with automatic fire, wincing as the recoil shook his injured arm.

More combat forms followed, and Emile fired the Revenant cannon, while aiming his M90 over the top of the pink vehicle, firing it as well. The red plasma blob impacted on the head of one combat form, tearing it to shreds. The heat of the plasma ignited the body, and those surrounding it. When the fell dead, it made a literal fire wall between the Spartans and the Flood.

Emile jumped out of the driver seat, raising his weapon at the opening, while Six aimed his pistol, ditching the MA5. Three combat forms ran through the flames, catching themselves on fire as they made a charge at the Spartans.

Firing his shotgun into the upper abdomen of one of the forms, Emile effectively blew its body into pieces. Six was shooting into the chest area, each bullet punching decent sized holes in the combat form. It fell to the ground, the flames dismembering the corpse.

The last combat form exploded as it took several rounds of MA5 fire to the chest. Chief walked down the snowy incline to his comerades, slinging his gun over his shoulder. "We go on foot?"

"We don't have another option," Emile answered, loading new shells into his M90. "Unless you want to try to turn the Revenant on its side and push it through that way."

"Walking it is, then," Chief said, as he was the first through the narrow opening. Emile followed, aiming the shotgun around.

Six silently cursed, and limped through, keeping the pressue on his left leg. "I was all for the idea of using the Revenant."

Chief shook his head. "It wouldn't have fit anyway."

"Still," Six agured,"I'm a wounded man. That Warthog explosion did quite the number on my leg."

"That's just perfect," Emile spat out, lowering his weapon as soon as he saw it was clear. They were back in the giant metal corridors with the metal speedbumps that they had driven the tank through earlier.

It was easy walk, with nothing to attack them along the way. Six was lagging behind, and it was quite easy to see the bloodstains on his right leg. "Maybe you should have that checked out," Emile suggested. "When you get on the ship."

Six nodded. "If I don't bleed out before then, sure, I'll get it looked at."

"Do we have any bandages?" Chief asked, digging through the small pouches on his armor. "Emile what happened to the ones we used to wrap up his arm with?"

"Right here," he answered, tossing the roll of guaze to him.

Cortana interrupeted them. "You do see the flaw in that plan, right?"

"Oh boy," Emile sighed. "What are we doing wrong this time?"

"You'd have to take off his armor to put that on," Cortana explained. "It's not like his arm, where the particle beam melted the latches. It's not going to be easy."

Scoffing, Emile kicked the back of Six's right leg, causing him to grunt in pain as the leg armor fell away. "A quick release mechanism," he said, folding his arms over his chest. "When Six got stabbed, Chief and I modified his armor in case he ever got injured and needed it off in a hurry. And it can help if he and Ashley were to do the horizontal tango."

Six used his good leg to kick Emile in the back of his leg, sending him to the ground. "Did I hit on something sensitive there?" Emile asked, standing up.

"No," Six answered. "But my foot will if you don't shut up." Emile raised his hands in defeat.

Chief wrapped the bandages around Six's leg. The IV watched with disintrest. He removed his blue Mark V helmet, setting it next to him as he reached for his back pouch. When he pulled his hand back, it was holding a small red cylinder, with white writing on it.

"Okay, where the hell did you get that one?" Emile asked, as Six opened the can of Coke.

Six shrugged as he chugged. "I found it in the back of Foehammer's Pelican when she dropped her off before we first met the Flood."

Emile shook his head sadly as Chief finished with the bandages. "You're doing that yourself next time," the II said as he stood up. "I'm not you father."

Chugging what was left in the Coke can, Six tossed the empty metal cylinder aside, and Emile stomped on it, pressing it flat to the floor.

"Since Cortana claimed to be my personal doctor," Six picked up his helmet and put it on. "She can put on my bandages."

"I don't have any real arms, smartass," Cortana shot back. "And I don't serve people who are addicted to Coke."

"Nice play on words," Emile complimented. Cortana went back on the helmet cam and saved that few seconds into her memory. It was the first, and most likely only, time Emile had given her a compliment.

Six finished relatching his armor on, which was hard to do with only one hand, and stood up. "Let us continue on our journey."

After turning a corner, they found another door, which was closed. A control panel was next to it, just like the old days. Six smiled as he reached over to press the button.

The lights went out.

Emile and Chief sighed, and Six switched the lights back on. "Come on," he urged. "That one was for aude lyne sine."

"For what?"

Six rolled his eyes. "It meant for old times sake."

"Please never turn the lights out like that again," Emile said. "I might accidently punch you when I randomly punch the air."

"Can't you two stay professional for at least a few minutes?" Chief asked as he opened the door. The room they entered was the one where the tank had been blown up, with the giant chasm right smack dab in the middle of the room.

Six shrugged. "I don't know. I've never really tried."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Chief muttered as he surveyed the room. "Looks clear." But even the silence was too much for Cheif. He grabbed his MA5 off his back, aiming it in front of him as they neared the bridge.

Emile was covering the back, and Six tightened his grip on his pistol. "I hate that bridge," Six quietly commented, as he remembered the time he nearly fell off of it.

Cautiously walking onto the bridge, Chief's hand was twitching on the trigger. He knew that the bridge would be a perfect ambush place. But the way he saw it, it would just be Covenant, unless the Flood was smarter than he thought.

At that moment, a flood of infection forms swarmed onto the bridge, heading straight for the Spartans. Chief opened up with his Assault Rifle, mowing down at least half before they had even got half way to them.

Emile chucked a grenade across the bridge, aiming for some of the combat forms that had just entered the fight. It landed right in the middle of the Flood mob, and exploded, sending two combat forms off the edge, while ripping another to shreds, and taking out countless infection forms.

"Behind us! Behind us!" Six shouted, firing the M6D into a Sangheili combat form that was trying to flank them. Four shots later, it fell to the ground with a splat. Three more combat forms were coming, and Six didn't have enough ammo for them all.

Chief turned on his heel and opened fire on the three combat forms, taking them out in rapid sucesssion. Emile was having a hard time keeping up, with infection forms and combat forms all charging at him. He threw another grenade, but that barely made a dent in the ones rushing him. "I need some help over here!" he yelled, and once again, Chief turned to provide that help.

Six swapped his M6D for his MA5 on his back, and fired it with one hand. His accuracy was terrible when he shot like this, but when the enemy is only a few yards away. One fell from the hail of bullets pelting him, but the others seemed to be fighting the pain.

His gun clicked empty right as a combat form reached him. Six lashed out with his good foot, easily breaking the fragile bones of its legs. And with another kick, Six sent its guts flying across the room. The other two combat forms didn't seem fazed by this, and charged at him.

One was blown away by a shotgun blast, and then the other was torn into pieces by an Assault Rifle. "Let's go," Chief ordered as he took off running for the door they were heading to.

"Here," Six said as he limped, handing his pistol to Emile.

"What's that for?"

"I need you to reload it for me." Emile groaned as he snatched the M6D from Six's hand. "Hey," Six protested, waving his injured arm. "In all fairness, I don't like this either."

"Don't like what?" Chief asked, as he turned around to see what was holding up the other two Spartans.

Six thrust his MA5 into Chief's hands. "Reload that," he ordered as he took his pistol back from Emile.

"I don't take orders from you," Chief spat, but he still reloaded the weapon.

Six scratched his neck. "I don't know. Is Lieutenant higher than Master Cheif Petty Officer?"

"Shut up and let's go before more come," Emile said, walking over to the door and pressing the open button. The metal door slid into the wall, but only opening a narrow strip for the Spartans to exit through.

And, as luck would have it, a combat for came stumbling out of the opening. It was massacred by MA5 and M90 fire. "It's time to run," Six said, limp-dashing through the opening. Emile and Chief just shrugged, and followed him.

They ran through another one of the corridors with the metal speedbumps, heading right for the incline that led to the outside world. Bullet fire and plasma fire echoed in the air, making it obvious that there was a firefight occuring in the outside world.

Chief motioned for them to get down and stay out of sight. He crawled up to the top of the incline, ducking behind some rocks. From what he could see, several Flood combat forms were engaging Covenant forces, and neither seemed to be taking the advantage.

"Stay low and let them fight it out," Chief ordered over the comms with his helmet speakers off so no one could hear him. "It'll leave us with less to deal with."

"Chief, look up," Cortana said, marking a waypoint. Glancing up, Chief could see the platform that was attached to the room that held the last generator.

"How are we going to get there?" he asked, looking around for a Banshee.

"I killed two birds with one stone," Cortana replied. "I've already radioed for Foehammer to come pick up Six, and when she gets here, she can give you a life up to the platform."

"And then she flies off with Six, leaving us with no transport to get Captain Keyes," Chief said, knowing that they would have to get the captain's CNI to use the Autumn's engine core. Chief only hoped that Keyes was still alive.

"Actually, I've been doing some research with the data on this ring, and I know a much faster way to get there," Cortana smiled on the comm screen just as Foehammer's Pelican flew into view. It fired its machine gun at anything marked as an enemy as it turned it's opened hatch to where the Spartans were.

"Hurry, we don't have all day!" Foehammer shouted, as her gunner took out an oncoming combat form weilding a Rocket Launcher. Chief jumped in, while Emile sprinted over and Six limped over. As soon as all three were on, Foehammer lifted off and increased altitude to reach the platform.

There were a few Marines in the hatch, sitting casually or cleaning their guns. "Hustle you two," Foehammer told Chief and Emile. "We've got Banshees incoming." As soon as they could, the two Spartans jumped from the hatc and on the platform, and Foehammer flew off, taking Six with her.

"Things are going to be different," Emile said, as the dropship flew off into the distance. "And a whole lot quieter."

"Yeah," Chief agreed. "But he gets the medical attention he needs, and we get to finish this fight." He turned to the door, and Emile followed as soon as he couldn't see the Pelican anymore.

"I call dibs on taking out the generator," Emile called as he ran after Chief. They walked into the room with the blue beam that shot into the ceiling. "How do I do it?"

Chief folded his arms. "Just walk into the beam."

"I've already changed your shield's frequency," Cortana said. "Just step into it."

Emile carefully went over to it, and slowly stuck his arm into the beam. With a flash of blue light, the beam dissappated, and Emile's shields were fully drained.

"That makes three." Cortana appeared on the comm screen, smiling from ear to ear. "Now about getting you to the Captian," she looked over at something off screen, "I've hacked into the teleportation grid, and with a small amount of energy, I can teleport you as close as I can to the Captain's CNI trasponder."

"And where are you going to get this energy?" Emile asked, looking at his arm as his shields recharged.

"I'll pull it from your shields," she replied. "Needless to say, we should only do this once."

"But Cortana," Emile said. "My shields just-" He was cut off when he was engulfed in a yellow column of light, and then he felt nothing...

_**A/N: This chapter wasn't bet**_**a_-ed, since I'm going to the beach tomorrow and I won't be able to update for at least a week while I'm there._**

**_I ha__ve a new poll up, just what you think of this story on a scale of one to ten._**

**_So,_**

**_Peace out!_**


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